Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by lack of remorse and guilt, lack of empathy, and shallow and deficient emotions. A growing body of research has examined the association between child maltreatment and CU traits. However, empirical findings on this association are inconclusive. Therefore, this meta-analytic review aimed to examine the overall association between child maltreatment and CU traits and potentially moderating variables. After searching five databases (Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, MEDLINE, and CNKI), a total of 37 studies ( N = 26,010 participants) yielding 165 effect sizes were synthesized in three-level meta-analytic models. Results showed that child maltreatment is significantly and positively related to CU traits (mean r = .183; p < .001). Moderator analyses showed that this association is larger in females than in males, larger in community samples ( r = .243) than in clinical samples ( r = .073), and in terms of CU trait dimensions stronger for callousness ( r = .251) than for uncaring ( r = .134) and unemotional dimensions ( r = .050). It is concluded that child maltreatment is a risk factor for the development of CU traits and discussed that interventions for CU traits in antisocial groups should be aware of the environmental influence of interpersonal trauma resulting from childhood maltreatment experiences.

中文翻译：

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虐待儿童会增加冷酷无情特征的风险：三级荟萃分析回顾


冷酷无情 （CU） 特征的特点是缺乏悔恨和内疚、缺乏同理心以及肤浅和缺乏的情绪。越来越多的研究考察了儿童虐待与 CU 特征之间的关联。然而，关于这种关联的实证研究结果尚无定论。因此，本荟萃分析综述旨在检查儿童虐待与 CU 特征之间的整体关联以及潜在的调节变量。在检索了 5 个数据库 （Web of Science、ScienceDirect、PubMed、MEDLINE 和 CNKI） 后，在三级荟萃分析模型中综合了总共 37 项研究 （N = 26,010 名参与者），产生了 165 个效应量。结果显示，儿童虐待与 CU 特征呈显著正相关（平均值 r = .183;p < .001）。主持人分析表明，这种关联在女性中大于男性，在社区样本中 （r = .243） 比在临床样本中 （r = .073） 更大，并且在 CU 特征维度方面，冷酷无情 （r = .251） 比冷漠 （r = .134） 和无情感维度 （r = .050） 更强。得出的结论是，儿童虐待是 CU 特征发展的危险因素，并讨论了对反社会群体的 CU 特征的干预应意识到童年虐待经历导致的人际创伤的环境影响。