A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between parenting and child autonomic nervous system activity

Alen, Nicholas V.; Shields, Grant S.; Nemer, Adele; D’Souza, Indira A.; Ohlgart, Marcela; Hostinar, Camelia E.

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104734

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 217 publications

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“…Interestingly, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis ( k = 103 studies, N = 13,044 participants) concluded that the development of more flexible autonomic functioning (i.e. higher autonomic vagal activity) may be associated with positive parenting, and that this effect may be even stronger in children at increased developmental risk (Alen et al, 2022 ). In this sense, early intervention should continue to receive increasing attention in the field of psychiatry, and strategies to promote positive development of autonomic vagal activity early in life may be one way to mitigate some of the risk associated with exposure to adversity early in life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A sex-specific pathway linking early life maltreatment, vagal activity, and depressive symptoms

Sigrist,

Ottaviani,

Baumeister-Lingens

et al. 2024

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: Experiences of early life maltreatment (ELM) are alarmingly common and represent a risk factor for the development of psychopathology, particularly depression. Research has focused on alterations in autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning as a mediator of negative mental health outcomes associated with ELM. Early alterations in autonomic vagal activity (vmHRV) may moderate the relationship between ELM and depression, particularly when considering forms of emotional maltreatment. Recent evidence suggests that the relationships of both ELM and vmHRV with depression may be non-linear, particularly considering females. Objective: Building on and extending theoretical considerations and previous work, the present work aims to further the current understanding of the complex relationships between ELM exposure, vmHRV, and depression. Methods: This study uses an adaptive modelling approach, combining exploratory network-based analyses with linear and quadratic moderation analyses, drawing on a large sample of males and females across adolescence (total N = 213; outpatient at-risk sample and healthy controls) and adulthood (total N = 85; community-based convenience sample). Results: Exploratory network-based analyses reveal that exposure to emotional abuse is particularly central within a network of ELM subtypes, depressive symptoms, and concurrent vmHRV in both adolescents and adults. In adults, emotional neglect shows strong associations with both emotional abuse and vmHRV and is highly central as a network node, which is not observed in adolescents. Moderator analyses reveal significant interactions between emotional maltreatment and vmHRV predicting depressive symptoms in adult females. Significant quadratic relationships of emotional maltreatment and vmHRV with depression are observed in both adolescent and adult females. Conclusions: The present findings contribute to the understanding of the psychological and physiological mechanisms by which ELM acts as a risk factor for the development of depression. Ultimately, this will contribute to the development of targeted and effective intervention strategies to mitigate the detrimental effects of early adversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A sex-specific pathway linking early life maltreatment, vagal activity, and depressive symptoms

Sigrist,

Ottaviani,

Baumeister-Lingens

et al. 2024

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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“…In general, these findings support the notion that adolescent sleep is embedded in the family context (El‐Sheikh & Kelly, 2017), in which sleep serves as a dyadic bioregulatory process that is shaped by parenting practices. Theoretical perspectives posit that facets of the home environment that evoke feelings of threat or insecurity (e.g., harsh or abusive parenting) can lead to disruptions in sleep resulting from hyper‐vigilance or arousal (Alen et al, 2022; Dahl, 1996). As an extension of this, our results suggest that adverse parenting may underlie incongruent dyadic sleep patterns among parents and youth, wherein one family member's gain in sleep is linked with the other's loss.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drawing on theories of sleep regulation and arousal (Dahl, 1996), higher levels of adverse parenting may underlie patterns of reduced bio-behavioral synchrony, or discordance, in parent-adolescent sleep. Bio-behavioral asynchrony may stem from harsh or abusive parenting behaviors that promote feelings of unsafety or hyper-vigilance among youth (Alen et al, 2022), which can cause arousal leading to problems with sleep initiation, quality, and duration, which may not be experienced by the parent as well (i.e., discordance). Furthermore, it is possible that discordance between parent and adolescent sleep may be adaptive for youth experiencing harsh parenting, such that youth who obtain better quality sleep than their parent(s) in these contexts may be protected against the harms of family stress via improved sleep (e.g., Sadeh, 1996).…”

Section: Adverse Parentingmentioning

confidence: 99%

In or out of sync? Concordance between parent and adolescent sleep varies by family context

Sasser

Oshri

2023

J of Research on Adolesc

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Evidence suggests significant interrelations among parent and adolescent sleep (i.e., concordance). However, less is known regarding how parent–adolescent sleep concordance varies as a function of the family context. This study examined daily and average concordance between parent and adolescent sleep and explored adverse parenting and family functioning (e.g., cohesion, flexibility) as potential moderators. One hundred and twenty‐four adolescents (Mage = 12.90) and their parents (93% mothers) wore actigraphy watches assessing sleep duration, efficiency, and midpoint across 1 week. Multilevel models indicated daily (within‐family) concordance between parent and adolescent sleep duration and midpoint. Average (between‐family) concordance was found for sleep midpoint only. Family flexibility was linked with greater daily concordance in sleep duration and midpoint, whereas adverse parenting predicted discordance in average sleep duration and efficiency.

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“…Additionally, more supportive emotion-related parenting in kindergarten is associated with more optimal developmental trajectories of RSA reactivity from kindergarten to second grade (Zhang et al, 2020). However, a meta-analytic study reported non–significant associations between positive or negative parenting and RSA reactivity among children and adolescents (Alen et al, 2022). Given these mixed findings and the fact that a conventional static score approach has typically been used to quantify RSA reactivity, more research is needed to clarify the associations between parenting and child RSA reactivity trajectories.…”

Section: Physiological Stress Reactivity As a Dynamic Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observed child behavioral self-regulation and maternal supportive parenting are associated with dynamic physiological stress reactivity in preschoolers.

Li,

Degirmencioglu,

Lunkenheimer

2024

Developmental Psychology

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This study sought to advance our understanding of how observed child self-regulation, parenting, and their interaction were associated with children's dynamic physiological stress reactivity indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity trajectories. Participants were 85 three-year-old children (54% female) and their mothers oversampled for lower income, higher stressful life events, and higher child maltreatment risk. Child behavioral regulation, assessed as compliance and noncompliance, and maternal supportive parenting were observed during a challenging dyadic puzzle task. Results showed that child RSA exhibited quadratic change across the task on average, characterized by an expected initial decrease and subsequent recovery. Child behavioral regulation and its interaction with maternal supportive parenting were associated with interindividual differences in child RSA reactivity trajectories after controlling for child resting RSA. Children with higher compliance or lower noncompliance showed RSA decreases in response to task stressors but exhibited subsequent RSA recovery only when mothers displayed higher supportive parenting. Children with lower compliance or higher noncompliance displayed negligible RSA changes overall across the task, suggesting blunted or compromised RSA reactivity, regardless of supportive parenting levels. These findings demonstrate novel evidence that preschoolers' better behavioral regulation is related to their more adaptive physiological reactivity to stressors and that supportive parenting is needed to facilitate physiological recovery even in relatively better-regulated preschoolers. Public Significance StatementThis study demonstrates that during challenging mother-preschooler interactions, preschoolers who exhibit better behavioral regulation with mothers and experience higher levels of supportive parenting show the most adaptive physiological reactivity to stressors and efficient physiological recovery after stressors have passed. Child self-regulation and parenting in challenging interactions are potential intervention targets to promote adaptive physiology and behaviors.

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A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between parenting and child autonomic nervous system activity

Cited by 13 publications

References 217 publications

A sex-specific pathway linking early life maltreatment, vagal activity, and depressive symptoms

A sex-specific pathway linking early life maltreatment, vagal activity, and depressive symptoms

In or out of sync? Concordance between parent and adolescent sleep varies by family context

Observed child behavioral self-regulation and maternal supportive parenting are associated with dynamic physiological stress reactivity in preschoolers.

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