Specific traits among adolescents increase risk for gun use

Researchers have identified traits associated with increased risk for gun use among adolescents at high-risk for gun violence, according to results of a study published in American Journal of Psychiatry.

“In the most recent revisions of major classification systems for psychiatric disorders, DSM-5 and ICD-11, a new specifier, ‘with limited prosocial emotions,’ was included within the diagnosis of conduct disorder (DSM-5) and conduct-dissocial disorder (ICD-11) to designate those youths with elevated callous-unemotional traits,” Emily L. Robertson, MA, of the department of psychology at Louisiana State University, and colleagues wrote. “Callous-unemotional traits are defined by limited guilt, reduced empathic concern, reduced displays of appropriate emotion and a lack of concern over performance in important activities. Callous-unemotional traits are found in 25% to 30% of adolescents with serious conduct problems, but these adolescents display more persistent and severe aggression and violent offending, use aggression for personal gain, engage in behavior that causes more harm toward victims, display conduct problems that are more stable, and have worse treatment outcomes.”

Although a Finnish study showed callous-unemotional traits were linked to increased risk for carrying a weapon among adolescents, the association of these traits with gun violence among youths has not been widely explored. To address this research gap, Robertson and colleagues sought to evaluate the role of callous-unemotional traits in the risk for gun carrying and gun use during a crime among adolescents at high risk for gun violence. They evaluated 1,215 male juvenile offenders from three U.S. regions following their first arrest and every 6 months for 3 years, and again at 4 years. They measured callous-unemotional traits and peer gun carrying and ownership via self-report after the first arrest, which was baseline. At all follow-ups, participants self-reported use of a gun and gun carrying during a crime.

Results showed callous-unemotional traits at baseline were associated with increased risk for gun carrying and gun use during a crime across the subsequent 4 years after accounting for other risk factors, including lifetime offending, impulse control, parental monitoring and exposure to violence. Moreover, callous-unemotional traits attenuated the relationship between participant gun carrying and peer gun carrying and ownership. Only participants low on callous-unemotional traits exhibited increased gun carrying related to their peers’ gun carrying and ownership.

“Interventions to reduce gun violence need to consider methods that have proven effective for youths with elevated callous-unemotional traits, who often do not respond as well to traditional mental health treatments,” the researchers wrote. “Our findings demonstrate the importance of considering callous-unemotional traits in future gun violence research because they may moderate the influence of other known risk factors, such as peer gun use, and lead to underestimates of the impact of this risk factor in the majority of youths, who do not have elevated callous-unemotional traits.”