Perceived Threat, Levels of Closeness and Physiological Synchrony in the Mother-Child Dyad: A Test of the Pathogen Stress Hypothesis

• In Event: The impact of COVID-19 on mother-infant dyads

Abstract

Foundational work in social psychology suggests that threat leads people to want more connection with their ingroup (Abrams and Hogg, 1988). Relatedly, the pathogen stress hypothesis argues that infection threat also shapes our social instincts particularly by strengthening ties with groups (Kramer & Bressan, 2021) and increasing collectivistic tendencies (Na, Kim, Suk et al., 2021). To date, however, opportunities for testing these hypotheses in a natural setting is limited, and few studies have examined how these processes may play out in one of the closest and most intimate group – the mother-child dyad. The COVID-19 pandemic posed a threat to individuals everywhere for a multitude of reasons, whether it be threats to physical or mental health, employment, and livelihood, or to the general loss of control in day-to-day life (Mulukum et al., 2021). Women and parents in particular report high levels of stress, worry and anxiety (Limcaoco et al., 2020) during the pandemic. The context of the pandemic offers an opportunity to test foundational theories regarding the role of threat, perceptions of closeness, and its relations to physiological synchrony. Physiological synchrony is a dyadic process rooted in decades of developmental research that describes the coordinated biological responses of two individuals, typically the mother-child dyad.
In the current study, we examine perceived COVID-19 threat (PCT), mother-child closeness, and their relations to physiological synchrony as indexed by hair cortisol levels in the mother-child dyad. Participants included 109 mother and child pairs (Mage = 72.5 months, SD= 11.1, 50 % male). Self-report survey data was collected to assess PCT and perceptions of closeness (using the Inclusion of Self in Other scale) (Aron & Aron, 1997) during the early months of the pandemic (summer, 2020). Hair samples were collected in the mother-child dyad and assayed for cortisol levels. Cortisol is highly sensitive to social relations, and the correspondence of cortisol levels between mother and child served as an index of physiological synchrony.
Regression models, controlling for child age and sex, along with mother education level and race, demonstrated a significant relationship between perceived threat and inclusion of self in others (B = 0.30, p = .012), such that when more threat was experienced, there was a closer identity between mother and child. Mother’s perception of closeness is also significantly related to their physiological synchrony (B = -0.16, p = .002). Higher levels of closeness were related to less discrepancy between maternal and child cortisol levels. Mediation analyses showed that the relationship between perceived COVID threat and physiological synchrony was fully mediated (direct effect = -.06, p = .322) by their level of perceived closeness with the child. scale (indirect effect = -.05, p < .05). Results provide some of the first evidence for the pathogen-stress hypothesis in a mother-child dyad. In situations where threat is present and perceived, children and their mothers become even more closely linked, both in subjective experience and physiological synchrony.

Authors

• Stacey N Doan, Claremont Mckenna College
  Presenting Author

• Samantha MacDonald

• Kavya Swaminathan

• Joyce Kim