Child Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Moderates the Longitudinal Association Between Maternal Harsh Parenting and Child Temperament

• In Event: Examining Relations Between Parental Behaviors and Children’s Self-Regulation with Diverse Samples and Methodologies

Abstract

The importance of child temperament in development has been evident (Eisenberg et al., 2009). Harsh parenting is a detrimental, proximal factor that shapes temperament during the early years of life (Kiff et al., 2011). Increasingly, research suggests that parenting influences on child development may vary by child biological characteristics such as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; Skibo et al., 2020). However, it is less clear whether RSA serves as a protective or vulnerability factor for early temperament among children exposed to harsh parenting. To better understand the role of RSA in early temperament, we examined interactions between child RSA (resting RSA and RSA reactivity) and maternal harsh parenting at age 3 in the prediction of child temperament at age 4.
Participants were 133 mother–child dyads (47% boys; 64% non–Hispanic White) from a larger study oversampled for lower income, higher child maltreatment risk, and higher life stress. Mothers reported harsh parenting, including physical abuse, psychological aggression, and neglect, using the Conflict Tactics Scale Parent–Child version (Straus et al., 1998) at age 3. Mothers also rated child temperament at ages 3 and 4 with the negative affectivity, effortful control, and surgency/extraversion subscales from the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire–Very Short Form (CBQ–VSF; Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Child resting RSA was measured during a 3–minute resting task in which the dyad watched a nature video. RSA reactivity was measured during a 3–minute challenge condition in which the dyad completed challenging puzzles. RSA reactivity was computed by subtracting the average RSA in the challenge condition from the average RSA in the resting condition, such that higher positive scores indicated higher RSA withdrawal.
Results from the resting RSA model (Table 1) showed that the interaction between maternal harsh parenting and child resting RSA significantly predicted negative affectivity, after controlling for child sex, household income, and age 3 negative affectivity. Simple slope analyses (Figure 1A) revealed that harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity among children with high (+1 SD) resting RSA (b=0.014, SE=0.004, p<0.001), but not low (-1 SD) resting RSA (b=0.000, SE=0.003, p=0.928). Similarly, the RSA reactivity model (Table 1) showed that the interaction between maternal harsh parenting and child RSA reactivity significantly predicted negative affectivity after adjusting for controls, such that harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity in children with high (+1 SD; b=0.017, SE=0.005, p<0.001) but not low (-1 SD; b=-0.005, SE=0.005, p=0.308) RSA reactivity (Figure 1B).
Although higher resting RSA and higher RSA reactivity/greater RSA withdrawal are often considered markers of adaptive regulatory functioning, consistent with previous research (e.g., Conradt et al., 2013; Eisenberg et al., 2012), our findings suggest that children with higher resting RSA or RSA reactivity may also be more vulnerable to negative environments. Findings are discussed with respect to the role of regulatory physiology in differential susceptibility models of early child temperament.

Authors

• Longfeng Li, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

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