What is it about?
What do we actually know about how research has examined the ways callous–unemotional (CU) traits relate to children’s relationships with their classmates and friends? This article maps current research on CU traits, which refer to a pattern of low empathy, limited guilt or remorse, and shallow or absent emotional responses. Children with these traits often have difficulty developing and maintaining positive social relationships and may display fewer appropriate prosocial emotions, which can negatively affect how they interact with peers at school and in other everyday settings. We conducted a systematic scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines and the framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. This approach allowed us to map the existing research rather than statistically pool results. We searched four major databases and, after screening more than a thousand records, included 22 empirical studies focusing on CU traits and peer relations during the primary school years.
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Why is it important?
Mapping the existing literature on the interplay between peer relations and callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children is critical due to the severe developmental trajectories associated with these traits. CU traits, characterized by a lack of empathy, guilt, and emotional depth, are robust predictors of severe delinquency, persistent aggression, substance abuse, and adult antisocial personality disorder. Because traditional interventions often yield limited success for this population, identifying and scoping malleable environmental targets within the literature is both a public health and scholarly priority. Peer relations may represent a crucial mechanism in this developmental pathway. Children with elevated CU traits inherently struggle with social reciprocity, frequently experiencing peer rejection due to their lack of empathetic behavior, as well as victimization. Furthermore, they exhibit a distinct pattern of affiliation with deviant peer groups. However, it remains unclear how existing research conceptualizes these group dynamics, particularly regarding how peer group affiliations uniquely influence children with CU traits compared to other conduct problem pathways (e.g., conduct disorder without CU, and early- versus late-onset antisocial pathways). Systematically consolidating research in this domain is essential to identify the existing knowledge gaps and areas where further empirical research is urgently needed. By mapping these areas, this scoping review aims to clarify how current research addresses the relationships between CU traits and peer relations. Ultimately, consolidating this evidence provides a necessary conceptual mapping of the field, establishing the empirical foundation required for future researchers to address these gaps.
Perspectives
Across studies, CU traits were most often examined in relation to peer liking, peer rejection, aggression, and friendship quality. Several studies also examined affiliation with deviant peer groups, describing how adolescents high on CU traits within antisocial gangs were often characterized as assuming leadership roles and exerting influence on their peers’ antisocial behavior. These are intriguing areas that warrant further investigation; however, there was substantial variation in how both CU traits and peer relations were measured, making it difficult to compare results directly. Most of the existing research is quantitative and cross-sectional. Only eight of the 22 studies were longitudinal, limiting the extent to which change in CU traits and peer relationships over time has been investigated. Very few studies included peers themselves as informants, even though classmates are often well placed to report on who is liked, disliked, or victimized in the group. We conclude that future work should use more consistent and transparent measures of CU traits, include multiple perspectives, especially from peers, and adopt multi-dimensional assessments of peer functioning. Additionally, there is a critical need for more longitudinal studies to track these relationships over time. Qualitative studies could also provide richer insight into how children with CU traits experience and interpret their social worlds.
Professor Gunnar Bjørnebekk
University of Oslo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Callous Unemotional (CU) Traits and Peer Relations in Childhood: A Systematic Scoping Review, SAGE Open, July 2026, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/21582440261463342.
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