2-043 - Dyadic Concordance and Discordance of Autonomic Physiology in Early Adverse Caregiving Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Autonomic responding is a key physiological substrate of the child’s developing regulatory systems (Feldman, 2012). Children exposed to adversity and maltreatment show atypical autonomic regulation in stressful situations (Beauchaine, 2012). But we know little about the developmental mechanisms by which these compromised regulatory responses develop. This symposium presents cutting-edge research on how dyadic temporal patterns of concordant and discordant autonomic responding in parent-child interactions relate to adversity, child maltreatment, and behavior, answering questions about whether parents or children drive these emergent risk processes. A renowned expert in autonomic processes and child developmental psychopathology will discuss challenges and next steps for the field.

Paper 1 examines maternal early adversity and mother-infant physiological covariation using a stress contagion paradigm, showing that mothers with higher adversity show positive parasympathetic covariation with their infants, but all mother-infant dyads show stress contagion via positive sympathetic covariation in stressful conditions.

Paper 2 finds higher child maltreatment severity predicts greater disruptions in parent-child parasympathetic coregulation patterns, moderated by maltreatment subtype. Physical and emotional abuse are associated with parent-driven effects on atypical child and dyadic physiology, whereas neglect is associated with child-driven effects on atypical parent and dyadic physiology.

Paper 3 shows that in physically abusive mothers but not non-maltreating mothers, dynamic changes in maternal RSA drive harsh parenting during real-time parent-child interactions. Child compliance predicts maternal RSA withdrawal, which in turn predicts increases in mothers’ hostile control, suggesting an increased physiological cost to parenting in mothers at risk.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Erika Lunkenheimer, Pennsylvania State University

Discussant

• Theodore P. Beauchaine, The Ohio State University

Individual Presentations

• The Impact of Maternal Early Adversity on Mother-Infant Physiological Covariation - Presenting Author: Sara Waters, Washington State University; Karen Higgins, Washington State University Vancouver

• Parent-Child Parasympathetic Coregulation Differs by Child Maltreatment Severity and Subtype - Presenting Author: Erika Lunkenheimer, Pennsylvania State University; Elizabeth Skowron, University of Oregon; Kayla M. Brown, Pennsylvania State University

• Within-Person and Dyadic Concordance in Autonomic Physiology and Behavior in Mother-Preschooler Dyads across the Risk Spectrum - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Skowron, University of Oregon; Jessica N Norman Wells, University of Oregon; Carolyn Lapsey, Department of Counseling Psychology & Human Services, University of Oregon