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Updated: Oct 9, 2025
Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Parasympathetic activity, emotion socialization, and internalizing and externalizing problems in children:
Elisa Ugarte1, Siwei Liu1, Paul D Hastings2
1Human Development and Family Studies, Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis.
Insights
Children with moderate respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) show fewer adjustment problems. Both high and low RSA increase maladjustment risk, especially with negative maternal emotion socialization, impacting internalizing and externalizing problems over time.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Developmental Psychology
- Biopsychosocial Health
Background:
- Biopsychosocial models emphasize physiological regulation and parenting in socioemotional development.
- Nonlinear associations exist between children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and maladjustment.
- Negative maternal emotion socialization is linked to internalizing (IP) and externalizing problems (EP).
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine within- and between-person associations of children's quadratic baseline RSA, negative maternal emotion socialization, and child adjustment problems over 7 years.
- Investigate the interplay between physiological regulation, parenting, and socioemotional outcomes.
- Understand how these factors influence children's internalizing and externalizing problems.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 133 3.5-year-old children and their mothers over 7 years.
- Measurement of children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA).
- Maternal reports on emotion socialization practices and child adjustment (IP and EP) at multiple time points.
- Analysis using multilevel structural equation models.
Main Results:
- Quadratic associations between baseline RSA and child adjustment problems (IP and EP) at the between-person level.
- Children with moderate RSA exhibited fewer adjustment problems compared to those with low or high RSA.
- Negative maternal responses predicted increased child problems, both between and within families.
- Within-family analyses showed IP elevated with higher-than-usual negative maternal responses.
- Children with extreme RSA (high or low) showed more problems during years of heightened negative maternal responses.
Conclusions:
- Moderate baseline RSA may be protective for socioemotional development.
- Both high and low RSA confer risk for maladjustment, particularly when coupled with negative emotion socialization.
- Aversive emotion socialization practices exacerbate the risk associated with physiological regulation patterns.
- Findings highlight the dynamic interplay between child physiology and parenting in long-term adjustment.
Abstract:
Biopsychosocial models of children's socioemotional development highlight the joint influences of physiological regulation and parenting practices. Both high and low levels of children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) have been associated with children's maladjustment, indicative of nonlinear associations. Negative or unsupportive parental responses to children's emotions are consistently linked with internalizing (IP) and externalizing problems (EP), although few studies have examined how associations vary within families. This study examined within- and between-person associations of children's quadratic baseline RSA, negative maternal emotion socialization, and children's problems over 7 years. RSA was measured in 133 3.5-year-old children (72 female) in predominantly middle- to upper-middle socioeconomic status, Caucasian families. Mothers reported on their emotion socialization practices and their children's adjustment concurrently and 1, 5, and 7 years later. Multilevel structural equation models revealed quadratic associations between baseline RSA and both IP and EP at the between-person level, suggesting that children with moderate RSA had fewer adjustment problems, on average, than children with lower or higher RSA. Across time and between families, children displayed more problems if their mothers reported more negative responses to their children's emotions. Within families, IP were elevated on years when mothers reported higher than usual negative responses, and children with either high or low baseline RSA had more problems on years when mothers reported greater than usual negative responses to their children's emotions. Altogether, these findings suggest that high and low baseline RSA may increase the risk for maladjustment, particularly in the time-varying context of aversive emotion socialization practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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