Coregulation of respiratory sinus arrhythmia between parents and preschoolers: differences by children's externalizing problems
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Published on: February 11, 2017
Erika Lunkenheimer1, Stacey S Tiberio2, Kristin A Buss3
1Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, CO.
Insights
Mothers and preschoolers show synchronized breathing patterns (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) during interactions. However, this physiological connection weakens and diverges when children exhibit more externalizing behaviors.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Physiological Psychology
- Child Psychiatry
Background:
- Parent-infant physiological synchrony is crucial for infant development and adaptation.
- Limited understanding exists regarding parent-child physiological coregulation in the preschool years.
- Externalizing behaviors in children may influence parent-child physiological interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate real-time physiological coregulation between mothers and preschoolers using respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA).
- To examine if changes in RSA are synchronized between mothers and children during interactive tasks.
- To determine if children's externalizing behaviors moderate this physiological coregulation.
Main Methods:
- Studied 47 mother-child dyads with children aged approximately 3.5 years.
- Collected RSA data during 18 minutes of free play, clean-up, and puzzle-solving tasks.
- Employed multilevel coupled autoregressive models to analyze time-varying RSA dynamics.
Main Results:
- Mothers and preschoolers demonstrated positive coregulation of RSA, with synchronized changes in real-time.
- This positive coregulation was evident after controlling for individual differences and within-person stability.
- Higher levels of children's externalizing behaviors were associated with negative RSA coregulation (divergence).
Conclusions:
- Mothers and preschoolers exhibit real-time physiological coregulation of RSA during interactive tasks.
- Children's externalizing behavior problems are linked to disruptions in this mother-child physiological synchrony.
- Findings highlight the impact of child behavior on the development of parent-child physiological interaction.
Abstract:
The coordination of physiological processes between parents and infants is thought to support behaviors critical for infant adaptation, but we know little about parent-child physiological coregulation during the preschool years. The present study examined whether time-varying changes in parent and child respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) exhibited coregulation (across-person dynamics) accounting for individual differences in parent and child RSA, and whether there were differences in these parasympathetic processes by children's externalizing problems. Mother-child dyads (N = 47; Child age M = 3½ years) engaged in three laboratory tasks (free play, clean up, puzzle task) for 18 min, during which RSA data were collected. Multilevel coupled autoregressive models revealed that mothers and preschoolers showed positive coregulation of RSA such that changes in mother RSA predicted changes in the same direction in child RSA and vice versa, controlling for the stability of within-person RSA over time and individual differences in overall mean RSA. However, when children's externalizing behaviors were higher, coregulation was negative such that changes in real-time mother and child RSA showed divergence rather than positive concordance. Results suggest that mothers and preschoolers do coregulate RSA during real-time interactions, but that children's higher externalizing behavior problems are related to disruptions in these processes.
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