Maternal emotion dysregulation and physiological concordance in mother‐preschooler dyads

Abstract

Maternal emotional and physiological dysregulation has been found to influence child stress physiology. This study characterizes diurnal cortisol and basal heart rate variability (HRV) patterns in a predominately high-risk sample of mothers with a full range of emotion dysregulation and assessed the magnitude of concordance (N = 68 motherpreschooler dyads). Overall, dyads exhibited concordance in evening salivary cortisol levels, but not for morning levels or HRV. Maternal emotion dysregulation was associated with maternal and child evening cortisol levels, child morning cortisol levels, and maternal HRV. Bootstrapping analyses showed that maternal emotion dysregulation was associated with higher child evening cortisol levels through its impact on mother evening cortisol levels. This study offers preliminary evidence for understanding child stress physiology and dyadic concordance in a sample of mothers with a range of emotion regulation capabilities. Highlights • Maternal physiology may explain the association between maternal emotion dysregulation and child physiological patterns. • Emotionally dysregulated mothers were oversampled and mothers and children's heart rate variability and cortisol were collected, with findings showing dyadic concordance in evening cortisol. • This work highlights the importance of transdiagnostic approaches for examining concordance and child stress physiology.

Longitudinal prospective study examining the effects of the timing of prenatal stress on infant and child regulatory functioning: the Michigan Prenatal Stress Study protocol

“… 54 All postpartum assessments include behavioural observations of parenting in a mother–infant/child-free play, 55–57 as well as high-frequency HRV assessed in mothers during a baseline 2 min period when no task is occurring and during the mother–infant/child-free play interactions. 58 59 We use the standard placement on the body for HRV assessment using three leads attached to the upper chest.…”

Cortisol in early childhood moderates the association between family routines and observed affective balance in children from low‐income backgrounds

“…Researchers have also found that adolescents who display a more normative, steeper decline in diurnal cortisol levels tend to have greater levels of high arousal positive affect, reflected in higher activity levels and alertness (Hoyt et al, 2015). Findings in the literature are somewhat inconsistent with regard to whether morning cortisol levels or diurnal decline are most strongly associated with emotion regulation (Laurent et al, 2013;O'Brien et al, 2020;Zalewski et al, 2012). Articulating the interplay between the social environment, specifically family routines, and emotion-related physiological processes, such as the HPA axis, will allow for better understanding of the environmental factors most important to shaping the development of emotion regulation, specifically affective balance, during early childhood.…”