Disentangling the Reciprocal Relationships Between Maternal Emotional Expressiveness and Children’s Callous-Unemotional Traits Through a Family Functioning Lens

Key Points

• Children's callous-unemotional traits reflect a complex interplay with maternal emotional expressiveness, influencing emotional growth.
• The study highlights how family functioning serves as a crucial context for understanding these emotional behaviors.
• Using an observational approach, the analysis underscores the importance of healthy family dynamics in shaping children's emotional traits.
• Findings suggest that promoting maternal emotional expressiveness may mitigate callous-unemotional traits in children, supporting emotional development.