Higher Baseline Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Research Articles

Parasympathetic functioning and sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic nervous system activity, has been linked with sleep quality among children with neurotypical development. The current study extended examination of these processes to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a group at considerable risk for sleep problems. Participants included 54 children with ASD (aged 6-10 years, 43% Hispanic). RSA data were collected via a wired MindWare system during a 3-min baseline and a 3-min challenge task. Parents reported on their children's sleep problems and sleep duration using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire, Abbreviated. Although no significant correlations emerged between RSA indices and parent-reported child sleep, baseline RSA and RSA reactivity interacted in the prediction of sleep problems. For children with higher RSA reactivity, higher baseline RSA was associated with fewer sleep problems, but for children with lower RSA reactivity, baseline RSA was not predictive. No main effects or interactions of RSA predicted sleep duration. Findings suggest resilience against sleep problems for children with ASD presenting with higher baseline RSA and higher RSA reactivity. Implications of these results center upon directly targeting psychophysiology (i.e., parasympathetic nervous system regulation) as a possible mechanism to improve sleep in children with ASD, and developing personalized interventions based on physiological markers of risk and resilience.

Sex moderated and RSA mediated effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on behavior problems at age 7

This study was designed to assess whether prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) is associated with sex differences in behavior problems in middle childhood and whether there are sex differences in the way in which parasympathetic functioning mediates the relations between PCE and behavior problems within a diverse low-income sample. Participants included 164 high risk mother-child dyads including 89 PC exposed children and 75 control children participating in an ongoing longitudinal study. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured to assess parasympathetic functioning at 13 months of age and maternal reports of child behavior problems were collected at 7 years of age. Results revealed no significant association between PCE and behavior problems for the full sample. A 2 × 2 Anova revealed a significant interaction between PCE and child sex on internalizing, externalizing, and total behavior problems (F (3, 160) = 13.45, p < .001) with cocaine exposed females averaging the highest behavior problem scores. Results also revealed a statistically significant indirect effect linking cocaine exposure to lower externalizing problems via lower baseline RSA among males. Findings indicate that cocaine exposed females may be more vulnerable to developing behavior problems than cocaine exposed males and that high baseline RSA may present a sex specific risk factor for externalizing problems among exposed males.

Cardiac physiological regulation across early infancy: The roles of infant surgency and parental involvement with mothers and fathers

High baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and infant temperament are associated with a child’s ability to self-regulate, but moderators of this association have not been thoroughly examined in the literature. Parents who are more involved might have more opportunities to interact with and soothe their children. The current study examined whether parental involvement moderated the association between infant temperament and baseline RSA with mothers and fathers across early infancy. Participants included families (n = 91) assessed at 4 and 8 months of age. Infant temperamental surgency and parental involvement were measured via parent-report when infants were 4 months old, and infant baseline RSA was measured at 4 and 8 months of age. Results revealed differences in mother versus father predictors of infant baseline RSA. A significant Infant Surgency X Maternal Play interaction was revealed; infants of mothers who were low involvement increased in their baseline RSA as their surgency increased. A significant main effect of father care was found; infants with highly involved fathers had higher baseline RSA. In conclusion, mothers and fathers may differentially influence their infant’s cardiac physiological regulation based on their specific type of involvement.

A Systematic Review of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia in Romantic Relationships.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of the parasympathetic nervous system, has recently gained attention as a physiological component of regulatory processes, social connectedness, and health. Within the context of romantic relationships, studies have operationalized and conceptualized RSA in disparate ways, obscuring a clear pattern of findings. This systematic review synthesizes the rapidly developing literature and clarifies the role of RSA in romantic relationships. We evaluate support for three conceptual hypotheses: (1) resting baseline RSA is associated with better quality relationships; (2) phasic RSA is reflective of changes in threat and connection during couple interactions; and (3) physiological linkage in RSA between romantic partners relates to positive or negative relationship functioning depending on the nature of the linkage (e.g., in-phase vs. antiphase). We identified 26 empirical studies that tested associations between RSA and an index of romantic relationships (i.e., relationship satisfaction). Our findings show that higher RSA is not uniformly "good" for relationships. Higher resting baseline RSA was contemporaneously associated with better quality relationships, yet higher baseline RSA was also unexpectedly associated with relationship violence. Short-term decreases in RSA were found during relationship conflict, though the opposite-phasic increases in RSA during positive romantic partner interactions-was not found due to mixed empirical support. As expected, evidence for RSA linkage was found, though the connection between linkage and relationship functioning depends on the context in which it was measured. We discuss methodological limitations and directions for future research.

Childhood anxiety sensitivity, fear downregulation, and anxious behaviors: Vagal suppression as a moderator of risk.

Anxiety sensitivity-the fear that anxiety-related sensations will result in catastrophic physical, social, or psychological consequences-is a robust risk factor for clinical anxiety. However, less is known about how anxiety sensitivity may interact with physiological modulation of arousal to predict anxious children's fear responses. The present investigation examined vagal withdrawal as a moderator of the association between anxiety sensitivity and anxious children's ability to downregulate subjective feelings of fear in response to an anxiety-provoking speech task. Observer ratings of anxious behaviors and performance during the task were also examined. It was hypothesized that children's anxiety sensitivity levels would interact with respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression to explain unique variance in subjective fear downregulation, anxious behaviors, and task performance. Participants were 105 children with anxiety disorders (N = 105; M = 10.07 years, SD = 1.22; 57% female) who completed diagnostic interviews, questionnaires, a speech about their family, and an RSA assessment in baseline and speech conditions. Interactions between RSA suppression and anxiety sensitivity predicted unique variance in subjective fear downregulation. Specifically, the greatest difficulties downregulating subjective fear responses were exhibited by children with high anxiety sensitivity and low RSA suppression. Interactions between RSA suppression and anxiety sensitivity did not predict variance in observer ratings of anxious behaviors or task performance. However, higher baseline RSA and speech RSA were significantly associated with fewer anxious behaviors during the speech. Higher baseline RSA was also significantly associated with better speech performance. These findings highlight the importance of vagal withdrawal and its interaction with anxiety sensitivity in predicting downregulation of subjective fear among clinically anxious children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

RSA reactivity to parent-child conflict as a predictor of dysregulated emotion and behavior in daily life.

Individual variability in tonic (resting) and phasic (reactivity) respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) may underlie risk for dysregulated emotion and behavior, two transdiagnostic indicators that permeate most psychological disorders in youth. The interaction between tonic and phasic RSA may specify unique physiological profiles during the transition to adolescence. The current study utilized clinically referred youth (Mage = 12.03; s.d. = 0.92) to examine baseline RSA, RSA reactivity, and their interaction as predictors of dysregulated emotion and behavior in daily life. Participants were 162 youth (47% female; 60% minority) in psychiatric treatment for any mood or behavior problem. RSA was assessed during three, 2-minute baselines and an 8-minute parent-child conflict discussion task. Dysregulated emotion and behavior were assessed during a 4-day ecological momentary assessment protocol that included 10 time-based prompts over a long weekend. Greater RSA withdrawal to the conflict was associated with dysregulated basic emotion (sadness, anger, nervousness, stress) in daily life. Two distinct interactions also emerged, such that baseline RSA was related to dysregulated complex emotion (shame, guilt, loneliness, emptiness) and dysregulated behavior as a function of RSA reactivity to conflict. Lower baseline RSA and greater RSA withdrawal were associated with dysregulated complex emotion, while higher baseline RSA and greater RSA withdrawal were associated with dysregulated behavior. Findings point to physiological profiles that increase the risk of dysregulated emotion and behavior during the transition to adolescence. Excessive RSA withdrawal uniquely, and in combination with baseline RSA, increased risk for dysregulation in daily life, underscoring the role of autonomic stress responding as a risk factor for psychopathology.

Chinese college students’ parental attachment, peer attachment, and prosocial behaviors: The moderating role of respiratory sinus arrhythmia

The goal of this study was to examine whether the links between Chinese college students’ parental attachment, peer attachment, and prosocial behaviors were moderated by a physiological factor—baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). The simplified version of the Inventory of Parental and Peer Attachment (IPPA-R) and the Chinese version of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM-R) were administered to one hundred forty-four undergraduate students (M = 18.96 years, SD = 1.06 years; 30 % men) to assess parental and peer attachment and prosocial behaviors. Baseline RSA was calculated by electrocardiogram (ECG) data collected during a resting period in the laboratory. The results showed that both parental and peer attachment were positively associated with college students’ global prosocial behaviors. Moreover, peer attachment interacted with baseline RSA to predict college students’ global prosocial behaviors. Specifically, peer attachment was positively related to global prosocial behaviors among college students with low baseline RSA, while peer attachment was not related to global prosocial behaviors among college students with high baseline RSA. In addition, the examination with submeasures of prosocial behaviors revealed that parental and peer attachment and their interaction with baseline RSA have different effects on these different types of prosocial behaviors. The current findings highlight the importance of the consideration of psychosocial factors in conjunction with physiological factors to predict college students’ prosocial behaviors.

The "Heart" of depression during early adolescence.

This study examined the concurrent associations linking youths' parasympathetic nervous system activity, specifically baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (RSAR; vagal withdrawal), with youth depression risk in a community sample of young adolescents. Youth gender was examined as a moderator of associations. Participants included 100 youth (53% boys; M age=11.05years, SD=0.33; 43% ethnic minorities), along with their mothers and teachers. Youth and mothers participated in a laboratory protocol involving a peer problem-solving conversation, during which youths' physiological activity was measured. Youth reported on their depressive symptoms. Teachers reported on youth depression risk via internalizing symptoms and emotion regulation (e.g., emotion lability/negativity). Results from regression analyses revealed that youths' vagal withdrawal during the mother-youth peer problem conversation was associated with lower youth-reported depressive symptoms. Further, gender moderated the associations linking youth baseline RSA and RSAR with youth depression risk. Specifically, among girls but not boys, higher baseline RSA was associated with lower depressive symptoms and emotion lability/negativity, and higher RSAR (i.e., vagal withdrawal) was linked with lower internalizing symptoms. Findings contribute to the relatively small literature linking youth parasympathetic functioning with depression risk, and point to specific implications for girls.

Callous-Unemotional Traits and Autonomic Functioning in Toddlerhood Interact to Predict Externalizing Behaviors in Preschool.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are one meaningful risk factor which helps to explain heterogeneity in the emergence of externalizing behavior problems. While the extant literature demonstrates links between early CU traits and later externalizing problems, there is a dearth of research examining for whom early CU traits confer risk. Data from a longitudinal study (n =108) were used to examine the extent to which parasympathetic functioning moderated links between CU traits in toddlerhood (m age = 24.99months) and externalizing behavior problems at preschool-age (m age = 51months). Neither CU traits nor parasympathetic functioning at age 2 directly predicted later externalizing behaviors. However, results show that high levels of CU traits predict elevated externalizing behavior problems, but only for toddlers exhibiting either high baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) or little to no RSA suppression in response to a fear stimulus.

Low cardiac vagal tone index by heart rate variability differentiates bipolar from major depression

Objectives: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and depression in bipolar disorder (BD) are often difficult to distinguish from each other. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation is associated with various depressive symptoms and inflammatory response disinhibition. The beat-to-beat pattern of heart rate (heart rate variability, HRV) offers a non-invasive portal to ANS function and provides a reliable index of resting cardiac vagal tone. We quantified HRV and measured inflammatory biomarkers in MDD and BD patients in an effort to derive potential diagnostic criteria for MDD and BD.Methods: Sixty-four MDD and 37 BD patients were enrolled. HRV was assessed and blood was drawn at baseline after antidepressant washout and prior to study initiation. HRV was quantified and corrected for artefacts.Results: MDD subjects had significantly higher baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (P = 0.05) and LF-HRV (P < 0.01) in comparison to BD subjects. Compared to MDD subjects, BD subjects had significantly higher baseline levels of IL-10 (P < 0.01) and MCP-1 (P < 0.01). In the MDD group only, baseline LF-HRV was significantly positively correlated to baseline levels of IL-10 (r = 0.47, P < 0.01).Conclusions: Reduced vagal tone and higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers may distinguish BD from MDD and reveal an underlying pathophysiology of depression involving ANS dysfunction and chronic immune system dysregulation.

Sex Differences in the Contribution of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Trauma to Children's Psychopathology.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a marker of parasympathetic activity, has been shown to moderate the relation between adversity and child behavioral outcomes; however, this work has been conducted in primarily Caucasian samples and limited in focus to family-level adversity. The current analysis extends the previous literature to examine the co-contribution of exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs), baseline RSA, and RSA withdrawal to internalizing and externalizing behavior in a sample of primarily African American youth (n = 92) recruited using neighborhood mapping techniques from communities high in epidemiological indicators of adversity. Exposure to PTEs was associated with lower baseline RSA. Complex interactions were observed between sex of the child, baseline RSA and RSA withdrawal, and PTE exposure predicting to internalizing behaviors. Among girls with high (4+) levels of PTEs, high baseline RSA and RSA withdrawal predicted higher internalizing; for RSA withdrawal only, the inverse was observed for girls with low PTE exposure, for whom high RSA withdrawal predicted lower internalizing. No associations were observed from RSA to externalizing, or among boys to internalizing. Findings are consistent with distinct patterns among primarily African American samples and suggest the need for sex-specific conceptualizations of the link between environmental adversity, physiological reactivity, and internalizing behaviors.

Mothers' and Fathers' Responses to Children's Negative Emotions: Family and Physiological Correlates

Parental physiological regulation and coparenting conflict were examined as correlates of mothers' and fathers' reactions to children's negative emotions. A within‐family design that included 70 families (mother, father, and two siblings between the ages of 2 and 5) was used. Parents completed questionnaires about their reactions to children's negative emotions and the other parent's coparenting. Parents' respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured during a baseline task. Mothers were more emotionally supportive and less negative in response to children's negative emotions than fathers. The results from actor–partner interdependence models indicated that fathers' baseline RSA was positively associated with their own and the mothers' supportive reactions to children's negative emotions. Fathers reported using more negative parenting when mothers had higher baseline RSA. Coparenting conflict accounted for between‐family differences in parenting. The findings underscore the need for a greater focus on the complex family processes associated with mothers' and fathers' emotion‐related parenting behaviors.

Behavior problems among cocaine-exposed children: Role of physiological regulation and parenting

This study examined interrelations between prenatal cocaine exposure, child autonomic regulation, parenting behavior and child sex on parent-reported behavior problems at 36 months of age. We hypothesized that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at 13 months of age would mediate the relation between cocaine exposure and behavior problems. We also hypothesized that child sex, maternal negative affect, and maternal sensitivity observed at 13 months of age would moderate the relation between RSA and behavior problems. Results revealed that cocaine exposure predicted low baseline RSA and low RSA withdrawal during a negative affect task. Low baseline RSA, in turn, predicted fewer behavior problems offering support for an indirect association between cocaine exposure and behavior problems. The association between baseline RSA and behavior problems was further moderated by maternal negative affect such that high baseline RSA was more strongly related to behavior problems under conditions of high compared to low maternal negative affect. Results also revealed a near significant trend for baseline RSA to be more strongly related to behavior problems among boys than girls. These findings highlight several possible pathways toward behavior problems among cocaine exposed children.

Behavior problems among cocaine exposed children: Role of physiological regulation and parenting

This study examined interrelations between prenatal cocaine exposure, child autonomic regulation, parenting behavior and child sex on parent-reported behavior problems at 36months of age. We hypothesized that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at 13months of age would mediate the relation between cocaine exposure and behavior problems. We also hypothesized that child sex, maternal negative affect, and maternal sensitivity observed at 13months of age would moderate the relation between RSA and behavior problems. Results revealed that cocaine exposure predicted low baseline RSA and low RSA withdrawal during a negative affect task. Low baseline RSA, in turn, predicted fewer behavior problems offering support for an indirect association between cocaine exposure and behavior problems. The association between baseline RSA and behavior problems was further moderated by maternal negative affect such that high baseline RSA was more strongly related to behavior problems under conditions of high compared to low maternal negative affect. Results also revealed a near significant trend for baseline RSA to be more strongly related to behavior problems among boys than girls. These findings highlight several possible pathways toward behavior problems among cocaine exposed children.

Poverty, Problem Behavior, and Promise

Do infants reared in poverty exhibit certain physiological traits that make them susceptible to the positive and negative features of their caregiving environment? Guided by theories of differential susceptibility and biological sensitivity to context, we evaluated whether high baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) operates as a susceptibility factor among infants reared in poverty (N = 73). Baseline RSA at 5 months, the quality of the attachment relationship at 17 months, and the interaction of these two factors were included in our models as predictors of problem behavior at 17 months. Consistent with theory, results showed no significant differences in problem behavior among infants with low baseline RSA; however, infants with high baseline RSA exhibited the lowest levels of problem behavior if reared in an environment that fostered security, and they exhibited the highest levels of problem behavior if reared in an environment that fostered disorganization. These results have important implications for the psychological health of infants living in poverty.

Spontaneous emotion regulation to positive and negative stimuli

The ability to regulate one’s emotions is an integral part of human social behavior. One antecedent emotion regulation strategy, known as reappraisal, is characterized by cognitively evaluating an emotional stimulus to alter its emotional impact and one response-focused strategy, suppression, is aimed at reducing behavioral output. People are capable of using these specific emotion regulation strategies when instructed to do so; however, it is equally important to investigate natural and self-selected strategy use. This study was designed to determine to what extent people spontaneously regulate their emotions and the emotion regulation strategies they choose to achieve their regulatory goals. Participants were given no instructions to regulate their emotions before they were shown a negative and a positive film clip, but were instead asked afterwards about the specific strategies that they had used. Participants reported regulating their emotions more to the negative film than to the positive film. Reappraisal was more frequently selected as an emotion regulation strategy than suppression. As expected, participants with high baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) adopted reappraisal strategies more than those with low RSA but, surprisingly, RSA was not associated with facial expressivity. Suggestions for future research in this relatively young field of spontaneous emotion regulation are offered.

Low respiratory sinus arrhythmia and prolonged psychophysiological arousal in posttraumatic stress disorder: heart rate dynamics and individual differences in arousal regulation

Background There is extensive evidence that the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system can modulate psychophysiological arousal. To date, no studies have investigated associations between cardiac vagal tone and the time course of arousal during exposure to trauma-related stimuli in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Methods Thirty-one subjects, 29 with PTSD and 2 with partial PTSD, had electrocardiograms recorded during baseline and 2-minute traumatic and neutral script-driven imagery periods. Heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and heart rate half-recovery to the trauma script were quantified, and subjects were divided into low and high baseline RSA groups. Results Across all participants, heart rate significantly increased from the neutral to the trauma script and RSA significantly decreased from baseline to trauma script ( p < .05). As predicted, low RSA subjects had more prolonged heart rate increases to the trauma script than high RSA subjects ( p < .001), and heart rate half-recovery was negatively correlated to baseline RSA ( r = −.50, p = .005). Conclusions This study is the first to find decreased RSA in response to a traumatic reminder and an association between low baseline RSA and sustained conditioned arousal in PTSD. Low vagal tone may account for deficient arousal and emotion regulation capacities often observed in PTSD.