Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Activity Predicts Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors in Non-referred Boys

Abstract

Atypical respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a biomarker of emotion dysregulation, is associated with both externalizing and internalizing behaviors. In addition, social adversity and gender may moderate this association. In this study, we investigated if RSA (both resting RSA and RSA reactivity in an emotion regulation task) predicts externalizing and/or internalizing behaviors and the extent to which social adversity moderates this relationship. Two hundred and fifty-three children (at Time 1, mean age = 9.05, SD = 0.60, 48% boys) and their caregivers from the community participated in this study. Resting RSA and RSA reactivity were assessed, and caregivers reported children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors at both Time 1 and Time 2 (1 year later). We found that lower resting RSA (but not RSA reactivity) at Time 1 was associated with increased externalizing and internalizing behaviors at Time 2 in boys, even after controlling for the effects of Time 1 behavioral problems and Time 2 age. Moreover, there was a significant interaction effect between Time 1 resting RSA and social adversity such that lower resting RSA predicted higher externalizing and internalizing behaviors in boys only under conditions of high social adversity. Follow-up analyses revealed that these predictive effects were stronger for externalizing behavior than for internalizing behavior. No significant effects were found for girls. Our findings provide further evidence that low resting RSA may be a transdiagnostic biomarker of emotion dysregulation and a predisposing risk factor for both types of behavior problems, in particular for boys who grow up in adverse environments. We conclude that biosocial interaction effects and gender differences should be considered when examining the etiological mechanisms of child psychopathology.

Biological sensitivity to context: A test of the hypothesized U-shaped relation between early adversity and stress responsivity

“…The null results for PNS reactivity regarding family environmental factors may be usefully considered in light of controversies regarding measurement of PNS reactivity. Some laboratories have operationalized PNS reactivity in terms of vagal withdrawal (e.g., Bush, Alkon, et al, 2011; Fox, Hammond, & Mezulis, 2018; Obradović et al, 2010), while other laboratories have operationalized PNS reactivity in terms of any change from baseline (withdrawal or augmentation; Beauchaine, Gatz-Kopp, & Mead, 2007; El-Sheikh et al, 2009; Kuhn, Ahles, Aldrich, Wielgus, & Mezulis, 2018; Zhang, Fagan, & Gao, 2017). The current signal detection analyses employed both vagal withdrawal (conceptualized here as high PNS reactivity) and vagal augmentation (conceptualized here as low PNS reactivity) as dependent variables.…”

Biosocial studies of antisocial behavior: A systematic review of interactions between peri/prenatal complications, psychophysiological parameters, and social risk factors

“…On the other hand, girls high on SNS reactivity were more likely to develop ASB in the context of marital conflict (El-Sheikh, 2005a;. Inconsistencies among girls were evident across low-and high-risk samples, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, among children and adolescents, and across several measures of SNS reactivity (see El-Sheikh, 2005a;Sijtsema et al, 2015;Wagner & Abaied, 2015, 2016 Most studies (n = 12 out of 17) on interactions between baseline PNS and social risk showed that lower (El-Sheikh, Hinnant, Erath, & El-Sheikh, 2015;Zhang, Fagan, & Gao, 2017) as well as higher (Dierckx et al, 2011;Scarpa et al, 2008;Shannon et al, 2007) PNS activity exacerbated the positive relation between social risk and ASB. Children with lower baseline PNS functioning were more likely to show ASB in the context of parental problem drinking (El-Sheikh, 2005b), material conflict , and harsh parenting (Hinnant et al, 2015).…”

“…While studies among boys consistently found interactions between PNS baseline activity and social risk (Dyer, Blocker, Day, & Bean, 2016;Gordis et al, 2010;Hinnant et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2017), most studies did not find significant interaction effects among girls (Dyer et al, 2016;Gordis et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2017). The two studies that did report significant biosocial interactions among girls, found either a negative relationship between social risk and ASB among girls with lower levels of PNS activity (Hinnant et al, 2015), or a stronger relation between familial risk and ASB for girls with higher PNS activity (Eisenberg et al, 2012).…”

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Acts as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Parental Marital Conflict and Adolescents’ Internalizing Problems

“…Many studies have found that lower baseline RSA is linked to internalizing problems (Forbes et al, 2006; Dietrich et al, 2007; Wei et al, 2017), while in contrast, other studies have found that lower baseline RSA is not linked to internalizing problems in children and adolescents (El-Sheikh et al, 2011; Hinnant and El-Sheikh, 2013). One possible explanation for these conflicting findings is that the association between baseline RSA and internalizing problems might partly be affected by environmental variables.…”