The Role of RSA in Preschoolers’ Interactions with Mothers versus Fathers: Implications for Socialization and Developmental Psychopathology

• In Event: Tuning the Heartstrings: Parasympathetic Nervous System Activity Across Caregiving Contexts in Early Childhood

Abstract

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) plays a central role in supporting social engagement (Porges, 2003), often indexed by changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in face-to-face interactions. Studies show child RSA predicts outcomes and moderates developmental pathways, implying it is a key mechanism of early childhood development (Holochwost et al., 2018; Ugarte et al., 2021). Further, when assessed dynamically during parent-child interactions, individual and dyadic patterns of RSA vary by parent and child risk factors (Lunkenheimer et al., 2018; Skowron et al., 2013), underscoring their candidacy as early biomarkers of developmental psychopathology.

However, we are still at the forefront of knowledge regarding the role of the PNS in early childhood development. One needed area of inquiry is how children’s physiological regulatory functioning operates across different relationships in their lives. This is an important question as children internalize regulatory experiences with caregivers and apply them to other relationships and environments, which may foster or hamper their self-regulation in those contexts. In particular, similarities and differences in child RSA reactivity with mothers vs. fathers may have implications for the stability of regulatory functioning across relationships, differential socialization processes by caregiver, and children’s developmental psychopathology.

Accordingly, in this talk, a series of findings are presented from a longitudinal study of preschoolers that address differences in children’s RSA in response to mothers vs. fathers. Research questions centered on understanding how individual and dyadic RSA patterns varied in mother-child vs. father-child interactions, and how individual differences in children’s affective, behavioral, and physiological regulatory capacity (e.g., via ratings of child behavior or child trait RSA) influenced real-time RSA reactivity and synchrony with parents. Research questions also addressed how such patterns were affected by parental risk (e.g., psychological distress, maltreatment history).

Participants were 150 community families oversampled for lower income, higher parent stress, and higher maltreatment risk. Child race/ethnicity was 65% White, 22% Latinx, 2% Black, 2% Native American, 8% Multi-racial, and 1% Other. Parents self-reported on parental risk and child behavior at ages 2 ½ and 3 using validated, reliable measures (e.g., Brief Symptom Inventory, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Child Behavior Checklist). RSA was collected from parent-child problem-solving tasks in the laboratory at age 3, which were video coded second-by-second for expressed affect and behavior using a validated and reliable coding system.

Across studies, state-trait multilevel models showed both similarities and differences in mother-child and father-child RSA patterns and how they were influenced by children’s regulatory functioning. Mother-father similarities included the nature of dyadic RSA synchrony itself (with interrelations indicating an allostatic process) and similar patterns in how children’s overall levels of regulatory difficulty (e.g., moderate vs. high) influenced parents’ RSA. Mother-father differences centered on how “state” aspects of child regulatory behavior appear to carry comparatively more weight in father-child interactions and “trait” aspects more weight in mother-child interactions; also, mothers and fathers showed differential RSA responses and effects of child regulatory capacity when they had more adverse histories. Based on these findings, implications for the role of child RSA in socialization and developmental psychopathology are discussed.

Author

• Erika S. Lunkenheimer, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author