Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:59:51.113Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia as a moderator of early maltreatment effects on later externalizing problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2020

Alexandra R. Tabachnick Open the ORCID record for Alexandra R. Tabachnick [Opens in a new window] ,
Christina Moore ,
K. Lee Raby Open the ORCID record for K. Lee Raby [Opens in a new window] ,
Alison Goldstein ,
Lindsay Zajac  and
Mary Dozier
Alexandra R. Tabachnick*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
Christina Moore
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
K. Lee Raby
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Alison Goldstein
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
Lindsay Zajac
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
Mary Dozier
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Alexandra Tabachnick, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, 108 Wolf Hall, Newark, DE19716; E-mail: atabachnick@psych.udel.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Physiological regulation may interact with early experiences such as maltreatment to increase risk for behavior problems. In the current study, we investigate the role of parasympathetic nervous system regulation (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] at rest and in response to a frustration task) as a moderator of the association between early risk for maltreatment (i.e., involvement with Child Protective Services; CPS) and externalizing behavior problems in middle childhood. CPS involvement was associated with elevated externalizing problems, but only among children with average to high RSA at rest and average to high RSA withdrawal in response to frustration. Effects appeared to be specific to CPS involvement as the association between cumulative risk (i.e., nonmaltreatment experiences of early adversity) and externalizing problems was not significantly moderated by RSA activity. These findings are consistent with the theoretical idea that the consequences of early maltreatment for later externalizing behavior problems depend on children's biological regulation abilities.

Keywords

maltreatmentpsychophysiologyRSA
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 821 - 831
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. S. (1978). The classification of child psychopathology: A review and analysis of empirical efforts. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for ASEBA School Age Forms & Profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth and Families.Google Scholar
Beauchaine, T. P. (2015). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia: A transdiagnostic biomarker of emotion dysregulation and psychopathology. Current Opinion in Psychology, 3, 43–47. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.01.017CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchaine, T. P., Gatzke-Kopp, L., & Mead, H. K. (2007). Polyvagal theory and developmental psychopathology: Emotion dysregulation and conduct problems from preschool to adolescence. Biological Psychology, 74, 174–184. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2005.08.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2009). Beyond diathesis stress: Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 885. doi:10.1037/a0017376CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernard, K., Simons, R. F., & Dozier, M. (2015). Effects of an attachment-based intervention on child protective services–referred mothers' event-related potentials to children's emotions. Child Development, 86, 1673–1684. doi:10.1111/cdev.12418CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Best, J. R., & Miller, P. H. (2010). A developmental perspective on executive function. Child Development, 81, 1641–1660. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01499.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bland, V. J., Lambie, I., & Best, C. (2018). Does childhood neglect contribute to violent behavior in adulthood? A review of possible links. Clinical Psychology Review, 60, 126–135. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2018.02.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolger, K. E., & Patterson, C. J. (2001). Developmental pathways from child maltreatment to peer rejection. Child Development, 72, 549–568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyce, W. T., & Ellis, B. J. (2005). Biological sensitivity to context: I. An evolutionary–developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 271–301. doi:10.1017/S0954579405050145CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, L., Schwartz, D., Dodge, K. A., & McBride-Chang, C. (2003). Harsh parenting in relation to child emotion regulation and aggression. Journal of Family Psychology, 17, 598–606. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.17.4.598CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., & Carlson, V. (Eds.) (1989). Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cipriano, E. A., Skowron, E. A., & Gatzke-Kopp, L. M. (2011). Preschool children's cardiac reactivity moderates relations between exposure to family violence and emotional adjustment. Child Maltreatment, 16, 205–215. doi:10.1177/1077559511408887CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, P. M. (1986). Children's spontaneous control of facial expression. Child Development, 57, 1309–1321. doi:10.2307/1130411CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conradt, E., Measelle, J., & Ablow, J. C. (2013). Poverty, problem behavior, and promise: Differential susceptibility among infants reared in poverty. Psychological Science, 24, 235–242. doi:10.1177/0956797612457381CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Criss, M. M., Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., & Lapp, A. L. (2002). Family adversity, positive peer relationships, and children's externalizing behavior: A longitudinal perspective on risk and resilience. Child Development, 73, 1220–1237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cullerton-Sen, C., Cassidy, A. R., Murray-Close, D., Cicchetti, D., Crick, N. R., & Rogosch, F. A. (2008). Childhood maltreatment and the development of relational and physical aggression: The importance of a gender-informed approach. Child Development, 79, 1736–1751.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deater-Deckard, K., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1998). Multiple risk factors in the development of externalizing behavior problems: Group and individual differences. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 469–493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Del Giudice, M., Ellis, B. J., & Shirtcliff, E. A. (2011). The adaptive calibration model of stress responsivity. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 1562–1592. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.11.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Del Giudice, M., Hinnant, J. B., Ellis, B. J., & El-Sheikh, M. (2012). Adaptive patterns of stress responsivity: A preliminary investigation. Developmental Psychology, 48, 775–790. doi:10.1037/a0026519CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derogatis, L. R., & Spencer, P. M. (1982). BSI administration and procedures manual. Baltimore, MD: Clinical Psychometric Research.Google Scholar
Dozier, M., & Bernard, K. (2019). Coaching parents of vulnerable infants: The Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up approach. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
El-Sheikh, M. (2005). Stability of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in children and young adolescents: A longitudinal examination. Developmental Psychobiology, 46, 66–74. doi:10.1002/dev.20036CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Sheikh, M., & Erath, S. A. (2011). Family conflict, autonomic nervous system functioning, and child adaptation: State of the science and future directions. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 703–721.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Harger, J., & Whitson, S. M. (2001). Exposure to interparental conflict and children's adjustment and physical health: The moderating role of vagal tone. Child Development, 72, 1617–1636.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., & Hinnant, J. B. (2011). Marital conflict, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and allostatic load: Interrelations and associations with the development of children's externalizing behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 815–829.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Kouros, C. D., Erath, S., Cummings, E. M., Keller, P., & Staton, L. (2009). Marital conflict and children's externalizing behavior: Pathways involving interactions between parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 74, vii–79. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.2009.00501.xGoogle Scholar
El-Sheikh, M., & Whitson, S. A. (2006). Longitudinal relations between marital conflict and child adjustment: Vagal regulation as a protective factor. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, B. J., & Boyce, W. T. (2008). Biological sensitivity to context. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 183–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, B. J., Boyce, W. T., Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2011). Differential susceptibility to the environment: An evolutionary–neurodevelopmental theory. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 7–28. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000611CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, B. J., Oldehinkel, A. J., & Nederhof, E. (2017). The adaptive calibration model of stress responsivity: An empirical test in the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey study. Development and Psychopathology, 29, 1001–1021. doi:10.1017/S0954579416000985CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanti, K. A., & Henrich, C. C. (2010). Trajectories of pure and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 to age 12: Findings from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Developmental Psychology, 46, 1159–1175. doi:10.1037/a0020659CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fergusson, D. M., & Horwood, L. J. (2003). Resilience to childhood adversity: Results of a 21-year study. In Luthar, S. S. (Ed.), Resilience and vulnerability: Adaptation in the context of childhood adversities (pp. 130–155). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldsmith, H. H., Reilly, J., Lemery, K. S., Longley, S., & Prescott, A. (1999). The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery: Preschool version. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin. Retrieved from http://www.uta.edu/faculty/jgagne/labtab/desc_loco_Lab-TAB.htmGoogle Scholar
Gordis, E. B., Feres, N., Olezeski, C. L., Rabkin, A. N., & Trickett, P. K. (2010). Skin conductance reactivity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia among maltreated and comparison youth: Relations with aggressive behavior. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 35, 547–558.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gross, D., Fogg, L., Young, M., Ridge, A., Cowell, J. M., Richardson, R., & Sivan, A. (2006). The equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist/1½–5 across parent race/ethnicity, income level, and language. Psychological Assessment, 18, 313–323. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.18.3.313CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halligan, S. L., Cooper, P. J., Fearon, P., Wheeler, S. L., Crosby, M., & Murray, L. (2013). The longitudinal development of emotion regulation capacities in children at risk for externalizing disorders. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 391–406. doi:10.1017/S0954579412001137CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hicks, B. M., South, S. C., DiRago, A. C., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2009). Environmental adversity and increasing genetic risk for externalizing disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66, 640–648. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2008.554CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ivanova, M. Y., Achenbach, T. M., Dumenci, L., Rescorla, L. A., Almqvist, F., Weintraub, S., … Döpfner, M. (2007). Testing the 8-syndrome structure of the Child Behavior Checklist in 30 societies. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36, 405–417. doi:10.1080/15374410701444363CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M., Deardorff, J., Davis, E. L., Martinez, W., Eskenazi, B., & Alkon, A. (2017). The relationship between maternal responsivity, socioeconomic status, and resting autonomic nervous system functioning in Mexican American children. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 116, 45–52. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.02.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1993). Patterns of marital conflict predict children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 29, 940–950. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.29.6.940CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keiley, M. K., Howe, T. R., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (2001). The timing of child physical maltreatment: A cross-domain growth analysis of impact on adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 891–912.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., & Walters, E. E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 593–602. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manly, J. T., Kim, J. E., Rogosch, F. A., & Cicchetti, D. (2001). Dimensions of child maltreatment and children's adjustment: Contributions of developmental timing and subtype. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 759–782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLeod, J. D., & Nonnemaker, J. M. (2000). Poverty and child emotional and behavioral problems: Racial/ethnic differences in processes and effects. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41, 137–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mesman, J., Stoel, R., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Juffer, F., Koot, H. M., & Alink, L. R. (2009). Predicting growth curves of early childhood externalizing problems: Differential susceptibility of children with difficult temperament. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 625. doi:10.1007/s10802-009-9298-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2007). The polyvagal perspective. Biological Psychology, 74, 116–143. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.06.009CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology). New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Rescorla, L., Achenbach, T., Ivanova, M. Y., Dumenci, L., Almqvist, F., Bilenberg, N., … Erol, N. (2007). Behavioral and emotional problems reported by parents of children ages 6 to 16 in 31 societies. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 15, 130–142. doi:10.1177/10634266070150030101CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roisman, G. I., Newman, D. A., Fraley, R. C., Haltigan, J. D., Groh, A. M., & Haydon, K. C. (2012). Distinguishing differential susceptibility from diathesis–stress: Recommendations for evaluating interaction effects. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 389–409. doi:10.1017/S0954579412000065CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sameroff, A. J. (1983). Developmental systems: Contexts and evolution. In Mussen, P. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 237–294). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Scarpa, A., & Raine, A. (2004). The psychophysiology of child misconduct. Pediatric Annals, 33, 296–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, A., & Cicchetti, D. (1998). Reactive aggression among maltreated children: The contributions of attention and emotion dysregulation. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 381–395. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp2704_2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skowron, E. A., Cipriano-Essel, E., Gatzke-Kopp, L. M., Teti, D. M., & Ammerman, R. T. (2014). Early adversity, RSA, and inhibitory control: Evidence of children's neurobiological sensitivity to social context. Developmental Psychobiology, 56, 964–978. doi:10.1002/dev.21175CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slopen, N., Fitzmaurice, G., Williams, D. R., & Gilman, S. E. (2010). Poverty, food insecurity, and the behavior for childhood internalizing and externalizing disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 49, 444–452. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2010.01.018Google ScholarPubMed
Sturge-Apple, M. L., Suor, J. H., Davies, P. T., Cicchetti, D., Skibo, M. A., & Rogosch, F. A. (2016). Vagal tone and children's delay of gratification: Differential sensitivity in resource-poor and resource-rich environments. Psychological Science, 27, 885–893. doi:10.1177/0956797616640269CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tabachnick, A. R., Raby, K. L., Goldstein, A., Zajac, L., & Dozier, M. (2019). Effects of an attachment-based intervention in infancy on children's autonomic regulation during middle childhood. Biological Psychology, 143, 22–31. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.01.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Zomeren-Dohm, A., Xu, X., Thibodeau, E., & Cicchetti, D. (2015). Child maltreatment and vulnerability to externalizing spectrum disorders. In The Oxford handbook of externalizing spectrum disorders (pp. 267–282). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Woody, M. L., Feurer, C., Sosoo, E. E., Hastings, P. D., & Gibb, B. E. (2016). Synchrony of physiological activity during mother–child interaction: Moderation by maternal history of major depressive disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 57, 843–850. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12562CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Tabachnick et al. supplementary material

Tabachnick et al. supplementary material

Download Tabachnick et al. supplementary material(File)
File 10.1 MB