Poster #63 - Vagal Flexibility Moderates the Relationship Between Environmental Risk and Externalizing Problems in Childhood

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Introduction. Economic disadvantage and family functioning, including harsh parenting and maternal depression, affect children’s socioemotional competence, including externalizing (EP) and internalizing (IP) problems (Reeb, Conger, & Martin, 2013). EP and IP also arise in part from difficulties with self-regulation. Children’s physiological regulation and experiences of adversity are likely to act together to affect their development. According to differential susceptibility (DS) theory (Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Ijzendoorn, 2007), children who have stronger physiological responses are more open to influence from environmental factors, being more likely to develop problems in adverse contexts, but less likely in advantageous contexts, compared to children who have weaker physiological responses. Parasympathetic control over peripheral arousal is an indicator of autonomic self-regulation that has been associated with children’s socioemotional adjustment (Porges, 2007). Vagal flexibility, or the ability to dynamically decrease and increase parasympathetic influence in response to complex stimuli (Miller et al., 2013), may be a better marker of parasympathetic contribution to emotion regulation than simple change scores. We examined the concurrent and longitudinal relations between authoritarian parenting, maternal depression, and family SES with children’s EP and IP, and whether children’s vagal flexibility moderated associations between these environmental adversities and maladjustment.

Methods. In a kindergarten-aged sample (M = 5.59 years, SD= 1.11; n = 152, 47% female), children’s respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was recorded while watching 3 one-minute videos depicting fear, anger, and sadness. Mothers reported on their depressive symptoms, authoritarian parenting, and family SES including income and parent education. Finally, mothers reported on EP and IP using the Child Behavior Checklist at Time 1 and 24 months later.

Results. Vagal flexibility was calculated by conducting second order growth curve models. Across emotion videos, vagal flexibility showed a pattern of initially decreasing RSA when an emotion was introduced, and then increasing (RSA augmentation) parasympathetic influence when emotion intensified, finally returning to baseline during resolution. The overall nonlinear model of RSA change had good model fit (χ2(12) = 22.172, p = .036, CFI=.98, RMSEA=0.07, SRMR=0.08).
A path analysis model (MPlus V.8) tested longitudinal paths between the family risks and development of IP and EP (χ2(10) = 12.235, p=.27, CFI=.99, RMSEA=0.04, SRMR=0.03). Lower resources were associated with higher concurrent internalizing (ß=2.18, p=.04) and externalizing symptoms (ß=3.45, p<0.01). Vagal flexibility moderated the concurrent relations between low resources and EP (ß=28.18, p=0.01). In accord with DS theory, low resources were associated with more EP, and high resources with fewer EP, when vagal flexibility was average (ß=3.45, p<0.01) or stronger (ß = 9.09, p <.001; Figure 1). Vagal flexibility also moderated the prediction of EP 24 months later from authoritarian parenting (ß=-39.66, p=.02). Counter to DS theory, there was a cross-over effect, with high vagal flexibility buffering the relation of authoritarian parenting with EP (ß=-7.42, p=0.05), and low vagal flexibility exacerbating the association (ß=8.43, p=0.03; Figure 2).

Discussion. Different types of adversities may have varying implications for children’s concurrent and future functioning, and models of dynamic parasympathetic regulation may help to tease them apart.

Authors

• Elisa Ugarte, University of California, Davis
  Presenting Author

• Jonas G. Miller, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Gerrick Weissman, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Paul Hastings, University of California, Davis
  Non-Presenting Author