Inventory of Callous-Unemotional traits (ICU)

The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional traits (ICU) is a 24-item questionnaire that assesses callous and unemotional (CU) traits, a central feature of psychopathy, also known as abnormal affective empathy (Jones et al., 2010). CU traits are defined by a lack of empathy, guilt, remorse and emotion (Moran et al., 2009). The ICU has three subscales: callousness, uncaring and unemotional. There are five versions of the scale, relating to age (youth or preschool) and who completes the ICU (self, parent or teacher). The ICU is made up of statements with a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 (Not at all true) to 3 (Definitely True), with higher scores indicating greater CU traits. Example items include statements such as: “I express my feelings openly”, “ I feel bad or guilt when I do something wrong” and “I do not care if I get in trouble”.

In Generation R, at the ages of 10 and 13, maternal reports were obtained using a brief validated questionnaire adapted from the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the Inventory for Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU). The questionnaire consisted of 7 items on interpersonal callous traits, which were scored on a 4-point Likert scale. To provide a more comprehensive measure of callous-unemotional traits, we expanded our measure at age 18 to include 17 items, 12 of which came from the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits - Short form (ICU). This questionnaire included two subscales: callousness and uncaring. Items were scored on a 4-point Likert scale. The other 5 items were the remaining items used at age 10 from the Youth Self-Report (YSR).

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Keywords
Constructs
Waves
  • Generation R

  • 9-10 years
    •   MC
    8.7 - 12.5 years   From 2012-01-01 to 2016-12-31
  • 13-14 years
    •   MC
    12.5 - 16.8 years   From 2016-01-01 to 2019-12-31
  • 17-18 years
    •   MC
    17.0 - 18.0 years   From 2020-10-01 (ongoing)
    Mode of collection SelfAdministeredQuestionnaire
    Analysis unit Individual
    Instrument name Inventory of Callous-Unemotional traits (ICU)
    Measure name Interpersonal callousness
    References
    Frick, P. J. (2004). Inventory of callous–unemotional traits. PLoS ONE.
    Roose, A., Bijttebier, P., Decoene, S., Claes, L., & Frick, P. J. (2009). Assessing the Affective Features of Psychopathy in Adolescence: A Further Validation of the Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits. Assessment, 17(1), 44–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191109344153
    You can also access this dataset using the API (see API Docs).