Fearlessness as an Underlying Mechanism Leading to Conduct Problems
2023 — Fearlessness developmental pathway
Research question
Does fearlessness contribute to later conduct problems directly and indirectly through parenting, anxiety, and CU traits?
Finding
The longitudinal structural model identified direct and indirect pathways between fearlessness and conduct problems.
Why it matters
This is an explicit mechanism-building study that integrates temperament, family process, CU development, and later conduct problems.
Inference boundary
Longitudinal mediation strengthens temporal-developmental inference but does not equal experimental manipulation of the proposed causal chain.
