Inconclusive prospective associations between maternal emotional expressiveness and children’s callous-unemotional traits: A reanalysis and comment on Hu et al. (2026)

In a recent study, researchers used cross-lagged panel models (CLPM) and concluded prospective associations between maternal emotional expressiveness and children’s callous-unemotional traits. However, it is well established that associations in the CLPM may be spurious. Here, we fitted alternative models to data simulated to resemble data in the original study. We report discrepant increasing, decreasing, and null associations depending on the analyzed model and meta-analytic aggregations of these discrepant associations did not differ significantly from zero. Hence, we propose that findings in the original study may have been spurious and conclusions premature. It is important for researchers to bear in mind that associations in observational (i.e., non-experimental) data, including cross-lagged effects in the CLPM, may be spurious in order not to overinterpret findings. We recommend researchers to fit alternative models to data and to base conclusions on a juxtaposition of findings.