Many transformations that occur in adolescence are related to emotion and emotion regulation, yet very little is known about the autonomic underpinnings of these changes. The aim of the study was to document age-related differences in autonomic responses to social stress and relations to emotion regulation. Ninety-nine female adolescents engaged in a paced breathing and a spontaneous speech task while electrocardiography measurements were taken. Spectral decomposition of the heart period data was used to create measures of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. Results revealed a positive correlation between age and sympathetic activity and a negative correlation between age and parasympathetic activity. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the age-related norms of cardiac variability across adolescence.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.