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Updated: May 10, 2026

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Combinations of resting RSA and RSA reactivity impact maladaptive mood repair and depression symptoms
Ilya Yaroslavsky1, Lauren M Bylsma, Jonathan Rottenberg
1University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Childhood Depression Research Studies, 4415 Fifth Avenue, Webster Hall Suite 134, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States.
Abstract:
We examined whether the combined indices of respiratory sinus arrhythmia at rest (resting RSA) and in response to a sad film (RSA reactivity) predict effective and ineffective responses to reduce sadness (adaptive vs. maladaptive mood repair) in women with histories of juvenile-onset depression (n=74) and no history of major mental disorders (n=75). Structural equation models were used to estimate latent resting RSA, depression, and adaptive and maladaptive mood repair and to test the study hypotheses. Results indicated that combinations of resting RSA+RSA reactivity (RSA patterns) predicted maladaptive mood repair, which in turn, mediated the effects of RSA pattern on depression. Further, RSA patterns moderated the depressogenic effects of maladaptive mood repair. RSA patterns were unrelated to adaptive mood repair. Our findings suggest that mood repair is one mechanism through which physiological vulnerabilities adversely affect mental health.
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