Latino Children’s Physiologic Reactivity Moderates the Relation Between Early Father Support and Later Behavior Problems

• In Event: 1-078 - Stress Physiology in Early Childhood: Interactions with Context and Neurodevelopmental Implications in Understudied Populations

Integrative Statement

Fathers exert an important, though often understudied, influence on children’s socioemotional development (Barker et al., 2017). However, children may not be equally susceptible to the effects of father support. Theories of differential susceptibility suggest that children’s physiological reactivity may interact with qualities of maternal caregiving, with implications for early physical and mental health (Bush & Boyce, 2017). Few studies have examined dynamic relations between physiological factors and fathering to predict children’s behavior. The current study examined interactions between father’s prenatal support and children’s parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)) and sympathetic (preejection period (PEP)) nervous system reactivity to predict children’s behavior problems in low-income, Latino families. Repeated measures of children’s RSA and PEP reactivity were collected during a developmentally challenging protocol that consisted of 3, 1 minute challenges at 6 and 12 months (jack-in-the-box, vibrator applied to the leg, listening to a sick baby cry; Alkon et al., 2006) and 4, 2 minute challenges at 42 and 60 months (social interview, number recall, concentrated lemon juice on the tongue, and watching an emotion-evoking video; Alkon et al., 2003). Mothers reported on father support during pregnancy and at delivery and on children’s externalizing problems using the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASQ) at 7 years of age. Growth mixture models from 6 to 60 months of age revealed two profiles of RSA reactivity and three profiles of PEP reactivity. Children in RSA Class 1 (n = 150) exhibited higher levels of reactivity in infancy that progressively decreased over time and conversely, RSA Class 2 children (n = 233) had lower levels of reactivity in infancy that showed modest, steady increases through age 5. Children in PEP Class 1 (n = 118) had minimal reactivity in infancy that remained stable over time, PEP Class 2 children (n = 66) exhibited the highest reactivity in infancy that steadily decreased through age 5, and PEP Class 3 children (n = 193) had lower reactivity in infancy that increased over time.

Father support early in life interacted with RSA profiles to predict externalizing symptoms at 7 years such that children in the decreasing RSA trajectory (RSA Class 1) who were exposed to moderate father support had significantly lower externalizing than those with low (B = -8.38, SE = 3.55, p = 0.02) or high (B = -7.20, SE = 2.28, p < .01) father support (Figure 1). Similarly, children in the decreasing PEP trajectory (PEP Class 2) had lower levels of externalizing when they were exposed to moderate levels of father support as compared with low (B = -15.10, SE = 4.81, p < .01) or high (B = -7.44, SE = 3.32, p = .03) father support (Figure 2). Findings suggest that certain patterns of neurobiological sensitivity are protective against the development of children’s behavior problems, particularly in the context of moderate levels of father support. Aligned with models of fetal programming, interventions to promote physiologic self-control and adjustment in at-risk children may be optimized by addressing partner relationship qualities during the perinatal period.

Authors

• Danielle Roubinov, University of California, San Francisco
  Non-Presenting Author

• Abbey Alkon, University of California, San Francisco
  Presenting Author

• Katherine Kogut, University of California, Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brenda Eskenazi, University of California - Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author