CALLOUS-UNEMOTIONAL TRAITS AND EMOTION IN A DETAINED ADOLESCENT SAMPLE: A MIXED METHODS APPROACH by XINYING ANG RANDALL SALEKIN, COMMITTEE CHAIR REBECCA ALLEN DEBRA NELSON-GARDELL A THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Psychology in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2013 Copyright Xinying Ang 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits have been found to be useful in identifying youth who display more stable, severe and aggressive behavior and who are at increased risk for early-onset delinquency and later antisocial and delinquent behavior (Frick & Dickens, 2006; Frick & White, 2008). Some studies devoted to understanding how youth with CU traits perceive emotional stimuli have found that youth with these traits have deficits in processing fear and distress in others (Frick and White, 2008). However, there is a paucity of research examining the detailed emotional experiences of youth with CU traits. Thus, the current study aimed to provide a richer understanding of the emotional experiences and perceptions of juvenile delinquents with high CU traits by examining how their emotional reactions and experiences may differ from those with low CU traits. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses were conducted to achieve these aims. It was found that a lower proportion of high CU youth, as compared to low CU youth, were able to identify the scared emotion of the photographed individual. No differences were found between groups on their ability to cite an experience for each emotion, or in their perceived emotional intensity for their experiences. High CU youth were more likely to make plans to evoke negative emotions in others for self-enhancement or to reach a specific goal, more so than low CU participants. A higher number of high CU youth reported that they found emotions hard to express, but perceived anger as easy to express, compared to low CU youth. High CU youth also controlled their fear to a greater extent compared to low CU youth. These findings are important as they shed new light on the relation between CU traits and emotion, and suggest that detained adolescents with CU traits may experience emotions such as guilt and fear, but they may prefer to contain their negative emotions from others. ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS d Difference between two means divided by a standard deviation F Ratio that represents the variance between the groups, divided by the variance within the groups M Mean: the sum of a set of measurements divided by the number of measurements in the set N Sample size of group p Probability associated with the occurrence under the null hypothesis of a value as extreme as or more extreme than the observed value t Computed value of t test SD Standard Deviation: value of variation from the mean χ2 Chi-square test of independence < Less than > Greater than = Equal to iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am appreciative of everyone who made this research project happen. Specifically, I am grateful to Dr. Randall Salekin, who helped me to conceptualize this project, encouraged me throughout the data collection and analysis process, and taught me how to write a research paper in an informative and clear manner. I am also very thankful for my committee members, Dr. Rebecca Allen and Dr. Debra Nelson-Gardell, who taught me so much about qualitative and mixed methods research and provided me with invaluable suggestions and support. Further, I would like to thank the undergraduate research assistants who helped me on this project. I would also like to express my gratitude to the forty participants I interviewed at the juvenile detention center, for sharing their personal stories with me and being willing to relate to me their vulnerabilities even though they may find it hard to do so. Lastly, I am thankful to my friends who have encouraged me to persist in pursuing my passion in graduate school. iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ..........................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................... ………………………vi 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1 2. METHOD .................................................................................................................................13 3. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................20 4. DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................................................59 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................75 APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................82 v LIST OF TABLES 1. Descriptive statistics of variables for total sample…………………………………………..20 2. Number of participants who have tried to evoke emotions in others and the total number of times participants cited incidents where they evoked emotions in others…………………...24 3. Reasons for Evoking Emotions in Others (Frequencies) ……………………………….......26 4. Commonly cited reasons for evoking emotions in others…………………………………...26 5. Physiological symptoms experienced when evoking emotions in others (Low CU group)…32 6. Physiological symptoms experienced when evoking emotions in others (High CU group)...32 7. Number of participants who recognized the emotions of the photographed individuals……33 8. Means, SDs and effect sizes for ratings of their sad experiences versus the sad experience of the photographed individual ………………………………………………………………. .34 9. Means, SDs and effect sizes for ratings of one’s sad experience versus the sad experience of another person in the same situation…………………………………………………………35 10. Means, SDs and effect sizes on the extent in which participants controlled their guilt feelings and reactions…………………………………………………………………………………36 11. Strategies used to regulate sadness arising from the sad situations participants described (Frequencies) ……………………………………………………………………………….. 38 12. Strategies used to cope with sadness in general (Frequencies)………………………………38 13. Common Strategies to Regulate Sadness)…………………………………………………...38 14. Strategies used to regulate anger arising from the situations participants described (Frequencies)…………………………………………………………………………………39 15. Strategies used to cope with anger in general (Frequencies)………………………………...40 16. Common Strategies to Regulate Anger………………………………………………………40 vi 17. Strategies used to regulate fear arising from the situations participants described (Frequencies)…………………………………………………………………………………41 18. Strategies used to cope with fear in general (Frequencies)………………………………......41 19. Common Strategies to Cope with Fear………………………………………………………42 20. Strategies used to regulate guilt arising from the situations participants described (Frequencies) ………………………………………………………………………………...43 21. Strategies used to cope with guilt in general (Frequencies)…………………………………43 22. Common Strategies to Cope with Guilt ……………………………………………………..43 23. Strategies used to regulate shame arising from the situations participants described (Frequencies)………………………………………………………………………………... 44 24. Strategies used to cope with shame in general (Frequencies)………………………………..44 25. Strategies to Regulate Shame………………………………………………………………. .45 26. Reasons for controlling Sadness (Frequencies)…………………………………………….. 45 27. Reasons for controlling Anger (Frequencies) ……………………………………………….46 28. Reasons for controlling Fear (Frequencies)………………………………………………….46 29. Reasons for controlling Guilt (Frequencies)…………………………………………………46 30. Reasons for controlling Shame (Frequencies)……………………………………………….46 31. Ease of Emotional Expression (Frequencies)………………………………………………..49 32. Number of participants who cited the avoidance/unhelpfulness of the different emotions… 51 33. Number of participants who perceived each emotion as beneficial ………………………...51 34. Sad Avoidance Strategies (Frequencies) ……………………………………………………52 35. Anger Avoidance Strategies (Frequencies)………………………………………………….52 36. Scared Avoidance Strategies (Frequencies) …………………………………………………53 vii 37. Guilt Avoidance Strategies (Frequencies)…………………………………………………...53 38. Shame Avoidance Strategies (Frequencies)………………………………………………….53 39. Respect Experiences (Frequencies) …………………………………………………………56 40. Disrespect Experiences (Frequencies) ………………………………………………………57 41. Respect Strategies (Frequencies) ……………………………………………………………58 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Emotions exist because of their importance to survival, communication and problem solving (Frijda, 1986; Izard, 1991; Tomkins 1983). Specifically, emotions tell people if things are going their way and organize people to respond rapidly to situations in an attempt to make sure things do go their way (Greenberg, 2002). In Greenberg’s words (2002, p. 11), “in fear, people shrink back; in interest, they open up; in anger, they puff up; and in sadness, they close down”. Emotions also help people make sense of their experiences.