Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity to Fear and Childhood Trajectories of Physical Aggression.

• In Event: Multisystem Stress Activity and Subtypes of Aggression in Three Developmental Periods.

Abstract

Dysregulated autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning is associated with aggression and antisocial behavior in children and adolescents (e.g., Graziano & Derefinko, 2013; Lorber, 2004; van Goozen et al., 2007), perhaps in part because it reflects atypical emotional responses to stimuli (Kalvin et al., 2016). Moreover, these associations may depend on the emotional stimuli used to elicit reactivity (Beauchaine et al., 2019; Lorber, 2004). Fear inducing stimuli may have important implications for aggression. Specifically, fearlessness theory holds that underarousal reflects temperamental fearlessness, which, in turn, may interfere with socialization against aggression (Murray-Close, 2013; Ortiz & Raine, 2004; Scarpa & Raine, 1997). Thus, the first goal of the present study was to assess associations between ANS reactivity to fear and trajectories of physically aggressive behavior.

In addition, the two branches of the ANS, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS; i.e., the “fight or flight” system) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS; i.e., the “rest and digest” system), may work together to influence the development of aggression and externalizing behaviors (Colasante et al., 2021; El-Sheikh et al., 2009; McKernan & Lucas-Thompson, 2018). However, research focused on reactivity to specific emotions rarely investigates the role of autonomic coordination across branches of the ANS in the development of aggressive behavior and often does not assess gender differences in associations between ANS functioning and aggression (e.g., Crozier et al., 2008). Thus, the second goal of this study was to investigate the unique and interactive role of the two branches of the ANS in the development of girls’ and boys’ physical aggression.

Caregivers reported on children’s physical aggression at ages 6, 7, 8, and 10 years (N = 232, 50.4% girls, 46% Latinx). SNS (assessed via pre-ejection period; PEP) and PNS (assessed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) reactivity were measured in response to video clips depicting fear at age 7. Growth curve models indicated that ANS reactivity was associated with trajectories of physical aggression (see Table 1). Effects differed across gender, indicating that distinct patterns of ANS reactivity to fear may be involved in girls’ and boys’ development of physical aggression. For boys only, RSA augmentation was related to declines in physical aggression over time. For girls only, the interaction between PEP reactivity and RSA reactivity was related to change in physical aggression (see Figure 1). Although girls with all ANS patterns exhibited significant or marginally significant declines in physical aggression over time, the decline was marginally steeper among girls with coinhibition than among girls with reciprocal PNS activation. Overall, these findings contribute to a growing literature documenting the role of ANS reactivity to fear in aggressive behavior, and extends this work to consider interactions between branches of the ANS, as well as moderation by gender, in the development of physical aggression. Further implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Dianna Murray-Close, University of Vermont

• Maria Christopoulos Lent, University of Vermont
  Presenting Author

• Amanda Sadri, University of California - Riverside

• Casey Buck, University of Vermont

• Tuppett M. Yates, University of California - Riverside