Chara A . Demetriou | University of Cyprus (original) (raw)

Papers by Chara A . Demetriou

Research on child and adolescent psychopathology, Jun 15, 2024

European journal of developmental psychology, Mar 5, 2024

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Mar 24, 2023

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, May 1, 2019

Highlights  Meta-analysis on conduct problems and Autonomic Nervous System activity at baseline ... more Highlights  Meta-analysis on conduct problems and Autonomic Nervous System activity at baseline or reactivity during tasks  Case-control studies suggest co-inhibition of parasympathetic and sympathetic reactivity to emotional tasks among those with high levels of CP  Correlational studies point to reduced baseline heart rate and heart rate activity in relation to CP

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology

Includes bibliographical references (study 1: p. 35-51 / study 2: 75-82 / p. study 3: p. 120-130).

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment

The Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) enables the assessment of psychopathy dimensions as... more The Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) enables the assessment of psychopathy dimensions as early as age three. The current study employs a multi-informant approach (i.e., fathers, mothers, and teachers) to further investigate the unique associations between psychopathy dimensions, as measured by the CPTI, with theoretically relevant constructs of interest, such as conduct problems, oppositionality, empathy, and social relations, in early childhood (N = 1283, M age = 6.35). Although associations with conduct, aggressive, and oppositional behaviours differed in strength, our findings supported the importance of all psychopathy dimensions in predicting behavioral problems. Our findings also suggested a unique association of the callous-unemotional dimension with affective empathy. Furthermore, stronger associations were identified between the callous-unemotional and impulsive need for stimulation dimensions with social problems (e.g., peer and family relations) compared to the g...

Child Development

This study investigated whether the associations between parental distress with conduct problems ... more This study investigated whether the associations between parental distress with conduct problems (CPs) and prosocial behaviors (PBs) are moderated by children's skin conductance (SC) and heart rate (HR) reactivity to fear. Participants were 147 Greek-Cypriot children (M age = 7.30, 44.2% girls), selected from a larger screening sample (data were collected from 2015 to 2018). Longitudinal associations suggested that children with high HR reactivity to fear were more likely to display PB, whereas those with low SC reactivity were more likely to engage in CP behaviors. In contrast, interaction effects suggested that children high on SC reactivity to fear were more susceptible to the effects of parental distress, as indicated by their higher vulnerability to engage in CP (cross-sectionally) behaviors and their lower scores on PB (cross-sectionally and longitudinally).

Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 2021

Callous-unemotional traits have been associated with difficulties in identifying and responding t... more Callous-unemotional traits have been associated with difficulties in identifying and responding to others' emotions. To inform this line of research, the current study investigated the eye gaze behavior of children (n = 59; mean-age = 6.35) with varying levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits with the use of eye-tracker methodology, as well as their ability to accurately identify emotional expressions. Participating children were selected from a large screening sample (N = 1283). Main findings supported a reduced fixation rate to the eye-region and an increased fixation in the mouth area of emotional faces among children high on callous-unemotional traits (HCU), irrespective of emotion expressed (i.e., fear, sad, angry and happy) and age of individuals portrayed in images (adult versus child faces). Further, findings suggested that HCU children were less likely to accurately identify facial emotional expressions, which might be due to the identified attentional neglect to the eye region of emotional faces. Current findings support the importance of early prevention and intervention programs that can enhance the emotional development and social adjustment of HCU children.

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2019

Empathy deficits are a hallmark of both callous-unemotional (CU) and autistic traits. However, it... more Empathy deficits are a hallmark of both callous-unemotional (CU) and autistic traits. However, it is unclear whether each trait is associated with deficits in distinct empathy subcomponents. The aim of the current study was to investigate the main and interactive effects of CU and autistic traits in predicting affective and cognitive empathy. We used data of 163 children (Mage = 7.30, SD = 1.42, 44.2% girls), selected from a large community sample (N = 1652). To ensure variability in empathy, we recruited participants with either low (1 standard-deviation below the mean; n = 78) or average to high (n = 85) levels of empathy. Partial correlation and regression analysis revealed that autistic traits were negatively associated with cognitive empathy, whereas CU traits were negatively related with both cognitive and affective empathy. Importantly, this is the first study testing the moderating effects of gender, revealing that CU traits negatively predicted affective empathy only among girls high on autistic traits. Findings can be used to understand the different empathy profiles of children with CU or autistic traits, and inform the development of effective interventions.

Developmental Psychology, 2018

Evidence from physiological studies has been integral in many causal theories of behavioral and e... more Evidence from physiological studies has been integral in many causal theories of behavioral and emotional problems. However, this evidence is hampered by the heterogeneity characterizing these problems. The current study adds to prior work by identifying neurophysiological markers associated with heterogeneity in conduct problems (CP), callousunemotional (CU) traits and anxiety. Participants were classified into the following groups: a) low risk, b) anxious (predominately high anxiety), c) primary (scored high on CP and CU traits but low on anxiety) and d) secondary (high anxiety, CU traits and CP). Developmental differences were also examined by including two different samples assessed during young adulthood (Study 1: N=88; Mage=19.92; 50% female) and childhood (Study 2: N=72;

International Journal of Developmental Science, 2018

A number of interesting symposia were also pre-60 sented to the workshop. Janne Støen and her 61 ... more A number of interesting symposia were also pre-60 sented to the workshop. Janne Støen and her 61 colleagues presented a symposium entitled "Voices 62 in bullying cases", were they presented data from 63 the Learning Environments project in Norway. Jan 64 S. Pfetsch, Anja Schultze-Krumbholz and their col-65 leagues presented a symposium on social reactions to 66 victims of aggression, combining research concern-67 ing social reactions towards the victims of aggression 68 and the impact on the experiences of victims of 69 aggressive social behavior. 70 Laura Saldarriaga, Gerd Bohner and their col-71 leagues, organized a symposium on the role of 72 attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors in the prediction 73 and prevention of gender-related aggression. Simona 74 Trip, Rosana Stan, Gabriel Roseanu and their col-75 leagues presented on the topic of extremism mind-set, 76 irrational beliefs and personality traits.

Journal of youth and adolescence, Sep 1, 2016

Callous-unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms tend to co-occur across development, wit... more Callous-unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms tend to co-occur across development, with existing evidence pointing to individual differences in the co-development of these problems. The current study identified groups of at risk adolescents showing stable (i.e., high on both conduct disorder and callous-unemotional symptoms, high only on either callous-unemotional or conduct disorder symptoms) or increasing conduct disorder and callous-unemotional symptoms. Data were collected from a sample of 2038 community adolescents between 15 and 18 years (1070 females, M age = 16) of age. A longitudinal design was followed in that adolescent reports were collected at two time points, 1 year apart. Increases in conduct disorder symptoms and callous-unemotional traits were accompanied by increases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, narcissism, proactive and reactive aggression and decreases in self-esteem. Furthermore, adolescents with high and stable conduct disorder symptoms and callo...

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Background: Elevated levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits have proven useful for identifying... more Background: Elevated levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits have proven useful for identifying a distinct subgroup of children whose conduct problems (CP) are early emerging, severe, persistent, and underpinned by aberrant emotional processing. The early childhood emotional experiences and expressions of CP subtypes are poorly understood, despite their importance to understanding the problematic attachments and atypical social affiliation experienced by children with elevated CU traits. The current study aimed to test for differences in facial emotional reactions to mood-inducing film clips in children with CP and varying levels of CU traits. Method: We compared facial emotional reactions during a developmentally appropriate mood induction task in a mixed-sex sample of clinicreferred preschool children (M age = 3.64 years, SD = 0.63, 66.9% male) classified as CP with elevated levels of CU traits (CP + CU; n = 25) versus low CU traits (CP-only; n = 47), and typically developing children (TD; n = 28). Results: Relative to TD children, children with clinical CP showed less congruent and more incongruent facial emotional expressions to sad and happy film clips, controlling for child sex, age, and ethnicity. Conclusions: Consistent with older samples, young children with CP show atypical facial emotional expressions in response to positive and negative emotional stimuli. Findings have implications for developmental models of childhood antisocial behavior and can inform the development of targeted interventions.

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2013

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