Adverse Parenting, HRV Reactivity, and Decision Making: The Moderating Role of Shift and Persist Traits

• In Event: 1-094 - Focus on the Positives: Examining Positive Developmental Outcomes Within At-Risk Populations

Integrative Statement

INTRODUCTION
Youth with abusive or neglectful caretakers experience chronic stress, which is linked with neurocognitive vulnerabilities and impulsive decision-making (DM) in adolescence (Lovallo, 2013; Oshri et al., 2017). The connection between exposure to early life stress (ELS) and DM can be theorized with the allostatic load theory, in which ELS results in neurocognitive vulnerabilities via dysregulation of physiological stress response systems (Juster, McEwen, & Lupien, 2010). As youth transition to adolescence, peers gain importance and youths’ DM can be significantly impacted by their peers. Youth who experience ELS (e.g., maltreatment) are at risk for poor DM in social situations due to their stress-regulation vulnerabilities, leading youth to impulsive DM that includes poor delayed reward discounting (DRD; forgoing smaller immediate rewards for larger future rewards; MacKillop et al., 2011). However, many maltreated youth utilize adaptive cognitive strategies to avoid risky decisions, leading to positive youth development and resilience. The present study examined whether youth who are able to shift (cope by reframing stressors) and persist (maintain a positive outlook despite adversity) are more likely to follow such resilient trajectories (Chen, 2012). Specifically, we examined how shift and persist (SAP) moderates the indirect longitudinal association between adverse parenting and DRD via dysregulated parasympathetic responses to social stress (i.e., high-frequency heart rate variability [HF-HRV] reactivity).

HYPOTHESIS
We hypothesized that adverse parenting would be associated with risky DRD via HF-HRV reactivity, and that SAP would be protective in this indirect association.

SAMPLE
A longitudinal and multiple-reporter community sample was utilized, comprised of youth aged 9-12 (N = 101; 52.5% female) and their primary caregiver, who were 200% below the poverty level (75.2% African-American or Black, 10.9% Caucasian, 8.9% Latino).

METHODS
Two waves of data were collected with one year between assessments. HF-HRV data was obtained with a mobile EKG unit and digitized using MindWare HRV 3.1.4 (MindWare Technologies, Gahanna, OH). Youth were exposed to a modified Trier social stress task, and HF-HRV reactivity was calculated using a residualized change score.
DRD was measured using the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (Kirby and Petry, 2004). Adverse parenting was measured using four subscales on the parent-reported Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, Hamby, Finkelhor, Moore, & Runyan, 1998): corporal punishment (a = .76); neglect (a = .69); psychological aggression (a = .67); and weekly discipline (a = .51). SAP was measured via the child-reported Shift and Persist Questionnaire (Edith Chen, McLean, & Miller, 2015), consisting of the shift subscale (a = .71) and the persist subscale (a = .66).

Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling through Mplus version 7.4 (Muthén & Muthén, 2010), and moderating effects were probed using the Johnson and Neyman technique (1936).

RESULTS
The results supported our hypotheses. The indirect effect from adverse parenting to DRD via HF-HRV was significant, conditional upon youths’ level of SAP (See Figure 1). Youth who had higher levels of SAP were protected from the consequences of poor physiological self-regulation (See Figure 2). These results may inform intervention efforts for at-risk youth, to prevent risk-taking behaviors and promote positive youth development.

Authors

• Erinn B. Duprey, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Sihong Liu, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zehua Cui, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Landry Goodgame, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Assaf Oshri, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author