Impact of stress and parenting on respiratory sinus arrythmia trajectories in early adolescence

Abstract

The effects of stress and parenting on 1‐year trajectories of physiological emotion regulation capacity among adolescents were examined. Consistent with the vulnerability‐stress and allostatic load models, stress (chronic family and marital) was hypothesized to be associated with less favorable trajectories of basal respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) over 1 year. This relationship was further hypothesized to be moderated by parenting practices (warmth, neglect, and rejection) and adolescent sex. Participants included 150 adolescents (51.3% female), 11–15 years of age (M = 13.04, SD = 0.89). Basal RSA and stress were assessed four times across 1 year. Results indicated a significant decrease in RSA over the course of 1 year (β = −0.15, p = .010). Warm parenting style was associated with lower RSA in environments of low marital stress and was also related with higher RSA in environments of high marital stress (β = 0.86, p = .021). Rejecting parenting styles were associated with higher RSA in environments of low family stress and lower RSA in environments of high family stress (β = −0.60, p = .014). These findings may be explained by the Yerkes–Dodson law of optimal stress, suggesting that sufficient environmental challenge is needed to catalyze regulatory development.

Maternal age differences in cognitive regulation: examination of associations and interactions between RSA and EEG frontoparietal alpha power coherence

“…Cognitive regulation allows for attending to salient information (and disregarding irrelevant information) and is reflected in optimized corresponding activity among various psychophysiological mechanisms in the central and peripheral nervous systems ( Moilanen and Manuel, 2017 ; Yu et al, 2020 ; Han et al, 2021 ; McCurdy et al, 2022 ; Tellegen et al, 2022 ). Poorer cognitive regulation is associated with negative emotional states and reactive as well as dysregulated behavior and thoughts in parents themselves and their children ( Bridgett et al, 2015 ; Giuliano et al, 2015 ; Evans et al, 2020 ; Lisitsa et al, 2021 ). Thus, it is important to understand the whole system of parental cognitive regulation involving the nervous system, cognitions, emotions and behaviors.…”

“…It is well—vs. poorly—regulated caregiving behaviors that is of concern given their well-established effects on children’s and adolescent’s wellbeing and psychological health ( Yu et al, 2020 ; Lisitsa et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Together, these variables capture related, distinct aspects of cognitive regulation that aid in responsive and supportive (vs. reactive and punitive) parenting behaviors in the many situations that require flexibility in maternal attention and cognition, impulse control, and active updating of appraisals (Evans et al, 2020;Tellegen et al, 2022). It is well-vs. poorly-regulated caregiving behaviors that is of concern given their well-established effects on children's and adolescent's wellbeing and psychological health (Yu et al, 2020;Lisitsa et al, 2021).…”