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Updated: May 9, 2025

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Does Resting Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Buffer the Link from Trait Anger to Aggression in Young Adults?
Jinyu Zhou1,2, Lin Chang1,2, Jingyi Xu3
1School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
Abstract:
From both psychological and physiological perspectives, the current study focused on investigating the moderating role of resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (resting RSA) in the association between trait anger and aggression. One-hundred and sixteen college students (73.28 % females, Mage= 19.15, SD = 0.92) reported their trait anger and aggression. RSA data was collected during a resting period in the laboratory. The results showed that trait anger interacted with resting RSA in predicting aggression, such that a positive association between trait anger and aggression was found among participants with lower, rather than higher, resting RSA. Our findings suggested that high resting RSA may be a protective physiological factor in the relation between trait anger and aggression among college students.
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