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

Abstract

The present study examined the potential moderating role respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) plays in the relationship between parental marital conflict and adolescents’ internalizing problems. To examine this issue, data were collected from 330 adolescents (13–14 years, 182 boys). The Chinese version of the Achenbach Youth Self-Report-2001 and the Chinese version of the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict were used to assess the adolescents’ internalizing problems and their perceptions of parental marital conflict. To obtain RSA data, electrocardiogram monitoring was performed on the adolescents at baseline and during a series of stress tasks (watching a film clip depicting marital conflict, a mental arithmetic task, and a speech task). The results indicated that baseline RSA and RSA reactivity to the film clip moderated the relationship between parental marital conflict and internalizing problems in early adolescents. The moderating effect of baseline RSA supported the BSCT hypothesis. Specifically, adolescents with low baseline RSA have both the highest and lowest levels of internalizing problems, depending on the level of marital conflict. In contrast, adolescents with high levels of baseline RSA have moderate levels in internalizing problems, regardless of the level of marital conflict they experience. Similarly, high marital conflict was related to internalizing problems for adolescents with less RSA suppression or RSA augmentation but not for those with greater RSA suppression. This effect was specific to stress related to marital conflict, as RSA reactivity to the mental arithmetic task and speech task did not moderate the relationship between marital conflict and internalizing problems. These findings suggest that certain profile of parasympathetic nervous activity is a risk factor for internalizing problems particularly for those who experience high-conflict environments.

The longitudinal links between marital conflict and Chinese children’s internalizing problems in mainland China: Mediating role of maternal parenting styles

“…To begin with, the correlations showed that both mother‐ and father‐ reported marital conflicts were significantly associated with children's internalizing problems over three years (although the associations became nonsignificant when the parenting styles were included). Our results are congruent with those of previous studies documenting that marital conflict is positively associated with children's internalizing problems (Hosokawa & Katsura, 2019; Khurshid et al, 2019). For example, Li et al () found that marital conflict was linked to Chinese children's internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression).…”

Getting to the heart of childhood empathy: Relations with shyness and respiratory sinus arrhythmia

“…Parasympathetic control is relevant to the study of shyness and empathy, since both latter factors are highly related to the level of arousal that a child experiences in a social situation. Resting RSA has been previously explored as a moderator of risk (El-Sheikh, Harger, & Whitson, 2006;Khurshid, Peng, & Wang, 2019;Morales, Beekman, Blandon, Stifter, & Buss, 2015), and more specifically, as a moderator between shyness and various child outcomes. For example, Sulik, Eisenberg, Silva, Spinrad, and Kupfer (2013) have reported that relatively low RSA combined with relatively high shyness resulted in the lowest levels of effortful control in a sample of typically developing preschoolers.…”

“…As such, we were unable to obtain a proper challenge task to assess RSA suppression within this study. We chose instead to use a measure of resting RSA, which allows us to focus on a known within-child biological factor that reflects parasympathetic control and emotion regulation and has been previously investigated as a moderator of risk (El-Sheikh et al, 2006;Khurshid et al, 2019;Morales et al, 2015).…”

Relationship Between Parental Marital Conflict and Social Anxiety Symptoms of Chinese College Students: Mediation Effect of Attachment

“…According to the EST, perceptions about parental marital conflict destroy the emotional security of children about family relations, increases their negative behavioral and emotional responses, thus increasing their psychological maladaptation (Davies and Cummings, 1994 ). Based on EST, a large number of studies have shown that perceived parental marital conflict is associated with adjustment problems of children and adolescents like externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and academic difficulties (Davies and Lindsay, 2004 ; Cummings and Davies, 2010 ; Cummings et al, 2012 ; for reviews, see Grych and Fincham, 2001 ; Li Y. et al, 2016 ; Khurshid et al, 2019 ; Li D. et al, 2020 ). Specifically, empirical studies provided evidence that perceived parental marital conflict could impact social anxiety symptoms (Riggio, 2004 ; Gao et al, 2018 ) of individuals.…”