Skin Conductance Reactivity and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Among Maltreated and Comparison Youth: Relations with Aggressive Behavior

Abstract

High RSA may protect against the effects of maltreatment on aggressive behavior, though this effect may be moderated by SCL reactivity among girls.

Sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to social stress across adolescence

“…Conversely, low tonic RSA reflects rigidity or a diminished capacity for flexible responsivity (Ode, Hilmert, Zielke, & Robinson, 2010). Low tonic RSA has been associated with a host of emotion-related problems including aggression (Gordis, Feres, Olezeski, Rabkin,& Trickett, 2010;Hinnant & El-Sheik, 2009;Mezzacappa et al, 1997), anxiety (Kawachi, Sparrow, Vokonas, & Weiss, 1995;Watkins et al, 1998;Yeragani et al, 1993), and depression (Carney et al, 1995;Krittayaphong et al, 1997;Licht et al, 2008). Thus, even in the absence of a stressor, tonic HRV can reveal a great deal about an individual's emotional functioning.…”

“…Low levels of resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), for example, have been consistently associated with dysfunctional emotional traits, such as aggression (Gordis, Feres, Olezeski, Rabkin, & Trickett, 2010), anxiety (Watkins, Grossman, Krishnan, & Sherwood, 1998), and depression (Carney et al, 1995). These HRVemotion connections have been mostly examined in infants (Stifter, Fox, & Porges, 1989), preschoolers (Fabes, Eisenberg, & Eisenbud, 1993), and adults (Dywan, Mathewson, Choma, Rosenfeld, & Segalowitz, 2008), and most often as comparisons of atypical groups to controls (Dishman et al, 2000).…”

Editorial: The Violence and Addiction Equation Revisited

“…The most common co-occurrences being IPV exposure and neglect (Public Health Agency of Canada 2010; Trocmé et al 2010). According to the emotion regulation hypothesis (e.g., Stewart 1996; Stewart and Israeli 2002) self-harming (Jacobson and Gould 2007;Ross and Heath 2003;Laye-Gindhu and Schonert-Reich 2005) or aggressive behaviours (Gordis et al 2009) may be an attempt to regulate (i.e., decrease or distract from) the experience of negative emotions (coping motive, Kuntsche et al 2008;Grant et al 2009;Cooper et al 1992), among others. Substance use imparts physiological changes; escalating use patterns provide a psychological context that is perceived as effective, if not efficient, by the user.…”

Salivary α-Amylase Reactivity to Infant Crying in Maltreating Mothers

“…Furthermore, there are several potentially confounding factors that should be taken into consideration in research on physiological arousal related to child maltreatment. For example, experiences of maltreatment in parents' own youth affects current dysfunctional parenting [34,35] as well as subsequent psychobiological development [e.g., [36]. Associated with both childhood maltreatment experiences [3] and child maltreatment perpetration [5], depression has also been characterized by dysregulated (mainly increased) ANS (re)activity (see [37] for an overview).…”