Attachment Security and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms during COVID-19: The Moderating Effect of High Resting RSA

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Abstract

Emergent research points to increased emotional distress and traumatic stress reactions during the global COVID-19 pandemic (Mazza et al., 2020). Prior research suggests that post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are prevalent in populations affected by natural disasters, including pandemics (Wheaton et al., 2012). However, we know little about the factors that may protect children against PTSS during COVID-19. Following attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973) and polyvagal theory (Porges, 2001), we examined a pathway from attachment security to children’s PTSS during COVID-19 as moderated by resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of heart rate variability that regulates parasympathetic inhibition of cardiac arousal.

High resting RSA reflects resource conservation and regulatory flexibility, whereas low resting RSA may confer diminished capacity for flexible responding and is a biomarker for psychopathology, including PTSS (Beauchaine & Thawyer, 2014). In addition to direct contributions to adaptation (El-Sheikh & Hinnant, 2011), RSA may moderate the impact of environmental factors on children’s adjustment. Porges (2007) suggests that RSA is particularly linked to social regulation, and some research demonstrates that children with supportive family relationships and high levels of resting RSA are better able to cope with environmental stressors (El-Sheikh, 2005). Thus, we evaluated the hypothesis that attachment security (age 12) would predict lower levels of PTSS in response to COVID-19 (age 15) beyond prior level of PTSS (age 12). Moreover, we predicted that resting RSA would further buffer PTSS by magnifying the protective influence of attachment security.

Participants were 224 children (50% female; 46% Latinx) drawn from an ongoing longitudinal study of child development. At age 12 (Mage=12.25 years, SD=.35), children reported on their attachment security using the Behavioral Systems Questionnaire (Furman & Wehner, 1999). We assessed PTSS using the Youth Self-Report (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) during the first weeks of the US lock-down in April 2020 (Mage=15.2 years, SD=.57). Given the evidence that resting RSA stabilizes during early childhood (El-Sheikh, 2005), we tested the moderating influence of children’s resting RSA while looking at a picture book at age 6 (Mage=6.11 years, SD=.21). Analyses controlled for child gender, ethnicity-race, poverty status, and prior PTSS (Mage=12.25 years, SD=.35).

Hayes (2013) PROCESS routine evaluated the moderation model. Results revealed a significant direct effect from attachment security to lower PTSS in response to COVID-19 (see Table 1). Children’s resting RSA moderated this effect such that attachment security predicted lower PTSS in response to COVID-19 when RSA was one standard deviation above the mean and at the mean, but not when RSA was one standard deviation below the mean (see Figure 1).

This study examined the moderating effect of children’s resting RSA on the association of children’s attachment security and PTSS in response to COVID-19. Average and high levels of resting RSA augmented the protective effect of children’s secure attachment against PTSS, whereas lower resting RSA muted this effect. These findings suggest that regulatory flexibility may enable children to harness the protective power of secure attachments against PTSS, which has significant potential to inform risk assessment and intervention efforts with children and families.

Authors

• Alexandra Sara Aringer, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Linnea Linde-Krieger, University of Arizona
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tuppett M. Yates, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author