Children’s autonomic functioning moderates links between maternal rejecting attitudes and preschool aggressive behaviors

Abstract

Substantial theoretical and empirical literature suggests that the extent to which children's early experiences contribute to the development of aggressive behaviors may depend on the psychophysiological regulatory capacities of the child. This study adds to this literature by examining the relations between mothers' rejecting child-rearing attitudes and children's aggressive behaviors, as well as whether children's parasympathetic regulation, both at rest and in response to anger-inducing films, moderate these links. Using the data collected from 88 preschoolers (mage =51months), the results revealed that the positive association between mothers' rejecting child-rearing attitudes and children's aggressive behaviors was moderated by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity to anger. More rejecting child-rearing attitudes predicted more aggressive behaviors only for children who showed mild RSA suppression to RSA augmentation. Conversely, and consistent with the differential-susceptibility model, children who showed mild RSA suppression to RSA augmentation had the fewest aggressive behaviors when mothers reported less rejecting child-rearing attitudes.