Effects of Attachment-Based Intervention on Low-Income Latino Infants' RSA Regulation

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

Abstract

Early caregiving has been related correlationally to parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity, especially as quantified by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; Propper et al., 2008). We examined whether the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) program that promotes early caregiving sensitivity and infants’ behavioral and cortisol regulation (Berlin et al., 2019; Dozier & Bernard, 2019) would causally affect RSA. We hypothesized that ABC infants would show higher resting RSA and more effective RSA regulation than controls, and that these impacts would be mediated by intervention effects on maternal sensitivity. Drawing on the Hispanic sociocultural health resilience model (Ruiz et al., 2018), we also tested neighborhood social cohesion as a moderator of intervention effects.

Participants were 181 low-income, Latina mothers and their infants randomly assigned to ABC (n = 91) or Book-of-the-Week (BOW; n = 90) a light control condition. At enrollment, mean maternal age was 31 (SD = 6.5); 49% had completed high school; 83% were married/partnered; mean infant age was 13 months (SD = 4); 51% were female.

Intervention: ABC dyads received 10 home-based sessions delivered by a trained parent coach who promoted (a) nurturance; (b) following the child’s lead with delight; and (c) avoiding frightening caregiving behavior. For the BOW condition, mothers received one developmentally appropriate book per week for 10 weeks by mail. Completion rates were high (ABC = 87.5%; BOW = 100%), as was fidelity.

All dyads participated in 2 sets of home-based research procedures, one pre-intervention (100% completion), and one post-intervention (97% completion; M infant age = 17 months [SD = 4]). Videorecorded post-intervention procedures included a 15-minute Three Bag infant-mother play assessment followed by a mild stressor, the Mask Task, during which infants were exposed to 4 novel and potentially fear-inducing face masks. Mothers sat ~3 feet behind and were asked not to interact. Subsequently, there was a 2-minute Mask Reunion period during which the mother could interact with her infant however she liked.

Relevant measures included the following: infants’ mean RSA scores during each post-intervention procedure (Three Bag, Mask Task, Mask Reunion) computed according to the Porges–Bohrer method (Porges, 1985); reliable ratings of maternal sensitivity during the Three Bag interaction, and mothers’ pre-intervention ratings of neighborhood social cohesion (Sampson, 2012; α = .82).

Results: Multiple regressions revealed that ABC did not affect infants’ resting RSA (during the Three Bag procedure). ABC affected infants’ RSA regulation, however. ABC infants showed stronger RSA recovery (RSA change from Mask Task to Mask Reunion) than BOW/controls (β [SE] = .16 [.08], p = .05; see Figure 1). These effects were not mediated by intervention effects on maternal sensitivity. Intervention impacts on both RSA reactivity and recovery were moderated by neighborhood social cohesion such that impacts were significant only when neighborhood social cohesion was higher (β [SE]’s = -.17 [.07] and .22 [.08], respectively, p’s < .05; see Figure 2 [recovery]).

Findings will be discussed in terms of the potential for attachment-based interventions to support early PNS regulation in low-income Latino communities.

Authors

• Lisa Berlin, Other (University of Maryland, Baltimore)
  Presenting Author

• Tiffany L. Martoccio, University of Maryland - College Park

• Roderick Rose, University of Maryland