Poster #12 - The Effects of Maternal Warmth Throughout Adolescence on Resting Parasympathetic Activity Among Mexican-origin Youth

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

Adolescence is an important period for emotion regulation development and a common period for the emergence of mental health issues (Giedd et al., 2008). Warm parenting and higher basal respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of parasympathetic activity, have both been linked to positive emotion regulation outcomes in adolescents (Hinnant & El-Sheikh, 2011; Morris et al., 2017). A recent meta-analysis found non-significant relations between parenting and child autonomic nervous system (ANS) physiology on average. However, positive parenting was more strongly associated with higher resting parasympathetic activity among clinical samples of youth (Alen et al., 2022). The current study analyzed the influence of changes in maternal warmth throughout adolescence (age 10-16) on basal RSA at age 17 in 229 Mexican-origin youth at risk for depression. Latent growth curve models were used to analyze the relationship between changes in maternal warmth throughout adolescence change and baseline RSA at age 17 (χ2(40.40) = 78.3, p = .09, CFI = .996, RMSEA = 0.039). Adolescents’ report of maternal warmth significantly decreased over time (β = -0.159, p < 0.001) with significant inter-individual differences in intercept and slope (p < 0.001). Although maternal warmth at age 10 was not related to baseline RSA, increases (or, smaller decreases) in warmth between ages 10-16 were related to higher baseline RSA (β = 0.394, p = 0.005). These findings suggest that baseline RSA continues to be sensitive to the influences of positive parenting in late adolescence, particularly in the context of youth at elevated developmental risk.

Authors

• Helena Her, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Elisa Ugarte, University of California - Davis

• Richard Whitney Robins, University of California - Davis

• Amanda E Guyer, University of California - Davis

• Paul David Hastings, University of California - Davis