Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Reactivity Research Articles

Implications of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) inertia for child psychopathology: Direct effect and interaction with between-task RSA reactivity.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) inertia is the temporary dependency of RSA levels between consecutive epochs, which captures the epoch-to-epoch stickiness of RSA reactivity. Previous studies examining the developmental function of between-task RSA reactivity have yielded mixed findings and have often overlooked RSA reactivity within the task. The present study examined whether RSA inertia during a stress task was associated with subsequent changes in child psychopathology symptoms. To have a comprehensive understanding of the function of RSA reactivity, we tested whether RSA inertia interacted with between-task RSA reactivity to jointly predict changes in child psychopathology symptoms. Eighty-nine middle-to-high income Chinese parent-child dyads were recruited. Children (Mage = 8.77 years, SD = 1.80 years, 41 girls) participated in a 2-min resting phase and then a 4-min stress task (a public speaking task), during which RSA was continuously recorded in the lab. Parents (Mage = 39.27 years, SD = 3.53 years, 67 mothers) reported on children's psychopathology symptoms in the lab and again 9 months later. Children with heightened RSA inertia tended to exhibit increased externalizing symptoms 9 months later. Moreover, RSA inertia interacted with between-task RSA reactivity to predict subsequent changes in externalizing symptoms. Children with the combination of lower RSA inertia and larger between-task RSA decreases had the lowest externalizing symptoms, suggesting an adaptive RSA reactivity pattern. Heightened within-task RSA inertia as well as reduced between-task RSA reactivity may help to identify children at risk for subsequent psychopathology symptoms, aiding in early intervention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Individual differences in parasympathetic functioning across social stressor tasks: Relations with child and parent anxiety

AbstractChildren with elevated behavioural inhibition (BI) show context‐inappropriate fear and dysregulated RSA across stressor tasks. However, few studies have examined dynamic RSA within tasks and relations to parent and child anxiety. Using piecewise growth modelling and multimethod baseline data from an intervention study of 151 3.5–5‐year‐old children and their parents, we examined relations between child social anxiety (SA), parent anxiety and their interaction in predicting children's RSA across social stressor tasks (e.g. learning about unfamiliar peers, Trier Social Stress). Within the sample, 49.63% of children were reported to be White, non‐Hispanic/Latine (n = 67), 22% multiracial (n = 31), 14.81% Asian/Pacific Islander (n = 20) and 12.59% Black/African‐American (n = 17). Furthermore, 64.44% of the parents were reported to be White, non‐Hispanic/Latine (n = 87), 20% Asian/Pacific Islander (n = 27), 13.33% Black/African‐American (n = 18) and 2.22% multiracial (n = 3). Children showed differentiated RSA reactivity and recovery within an anticipatory social learning task based on their level of clinically appraised SA. Relations between child SA and RSA across tasks was moderated by parent anxiety, specifically for dyads matched in anxiety. Findings provide support for the potential influence of both child and parent anxiety on children's parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) responses across specific self‐regulatory tasks.

Maternal sensitivity as a predictor of change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia activity from infancy to toddlerhood

AbstractThis study examined whether parental sensitivity during distressing and non‐distressing mother–infant interactions predicts changes in young children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) activity. Baseline RSA levels were collected from 83 children (49% female, 51% male) when children were 7 and 18 months old. Children's RSA reactivity and RSA recovery during the still‐face paradigm were collected when children were 7 months and during the strange situation procedure at 18 months. Controlling for stability of RSA activity over time, maternal sensitivity during distressing interactions at 7 months predicted changes in children's baseline RSA levels (β = −0.30) and children's RSA recovery (β = 0.25). Young children who experienced higher levels of sensitivity at 7 months had lower resting RSA levels and exhibited greater RSA recovery at 18 months. These results suggest that changes in young children's RSA activity are meaningfully related to their early caregiving experiences.Highlights We examined whether maternal sensitivity during infancy predicts changes in children's RSA activity from infancy to toddlerhood. Children who experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity during infancy showed greater RSA recovery from a stressor during toddlerhood. Children who experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity during infancy had lower resting RSA levels during toddlerhood.

Physiological and Family-Level Correlates of Autistic Adolescents' Sleep Quality.

Autistic adolescents commonly experience sleep-related difficulties and prior studies have sought to separately examine physiological and family-level predictors of their sleep quality. The current study aimed to conceptually replicate and extend to an adolescent sample a prior study that found respiratory sinus arrhythmia was associated with sleep quality in autistic children. In addition, the current study also examined whether the quality of the family environment was associated with sleep quality in autistic adolescents. The sample consisted of 107 autistic adolescents who completed a baseline measure of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and then watched a video of their parents engaged in a discussion about a topic of disagreement while their respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity was measured. Adolescents also completed questionnaires measuring their sleep quality and family environment. In regression models, adolescents' physiological functioning was not a significant predictor of their sleep quality; however, adolescents living in poorer quality family environments reported worse sleep quality after controlling for their physiological functioning. The interaction between physiological functioning and the family environment predicting sleep quality was non-significant. Although the current study did not conceptually replicate prior work, the findings highlight the importance of the family environment for adolescents' sleep. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Maternal psychophysiology profiles: associations with prenatal opioid use, maternal emotion dysregulation, and newborn neurobehavior.

Opioid use among pregnant women has more than quadrupled over the past 20 years; however, comorbid risk factors such as emotion dysregulation confound the developmental consequences of prenatal opioid use. Maternal respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) may help to disentangle the comorbid risk factors of prenatal emotion dysregulation and substance use and isolate their consequences on newborn neurobehavior. We examined maternal RSA in response to a mild, infant-related stress task in pregnant people (N = 192; 30 on medications for opioid use disorder) recruited from hospitals and a specialty prenatal clinic for substance use disorder. Three latent profiles emerged based on maternal RSA reactivity. Mothers with RSA increasing (Profile 3; more nervous system dysregulation) had higher levels of emotion dysregulation than mothers with RSA decreasing (Profile 1; well-regulated nervous system responses) but were not more likely to use opioids. Additionally, RSA profiles were associated with newborn neurobehavior, including attention, regulation, handling,and arousal. Given the variability in opioid use across RSA profiles and profile associations with newborn neurodevelopment, future studies should examine protective factors in pregnant individuals using opioids who show more flexible RSA responses. Our study examined maternal psychophysiology and newborn outcomes in a unique population with high levels of emotion dysregulation and opioid use. Three profiles of maternal respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) reactivity were identified during pregnancy: decreasing, blunted, and increasing. The RSA increasing and blunted profiles were associated with higher emotion dysregulation than the decreasing profile. Most pregnant people on medications for opioid use disorder (65%) were grouped into the blunted profile, suggesting they might be more at risk for dysregulated RSA reactivity. Differences in RSA profiles were associated with newborn outcomes, with increasing and blunted RSA predicting more newborn neurobehavioral dysregulation.

Negative family expressiveness and adolescents' externalizing problems: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia as a moderator and anger regulation as a mediator.

Family environment, emotion regulation and biological sensitivity have been shown to be associated with adolescents' externalizing problem behaviours. However, findings regarding respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity are mixed and sometimes contradictory. This study aims to clarify the roles of RSA reactivity and anger regulation in the relationship between negative family expressiveness (NFE) and adolescents' externalizing behaviour by measuring RSA reactivity during the Parent-Adolescent Interaction Task (PAIT), designed to simulate a naturalistic negative family environment. In this study, 125 Chinese adolescents (M = 13.95 years, SD = 0.95; 48% male) completed questionnaires assessing negative family expressiveness, anger regulation and externalizing problems. Additionally, we collected electrocardiogram and respiration data during both the resting period and a 10-min PAIT. Results showed that anger regulation mediated the relationship between NFE and externalizing problem behaviours. Moreover, adolescents' RSA reactivity moderated this mediation effect, even after controlling for baseline RSA. Greater RSA suppression potentially indicated greater susceptibility, with the relationship between NFE and anger regulation being more pronounced in adolescents with greater RSA suppression compared to those with lesser RSA suppression. These findings highlight the importance of considering physiological systems, especially within the context of adverse family environments, when studying the relationships with externalizing problems.

Observed child behavioral self-regulation and maternal supportive parenting are associated with dynamic physiological stress reactivity in preschoolers.

This study sought to advance our understanding of how observed child self-regulation, parenting, and their interaction were associated with children's dynamic physiological stress reactivity indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity trajectories. Participants were 85 three-year-old children (54% female) and their mothers oversampled for lower income, higher stressful life events, and higher child maltreatment risk. Child behavioral regulation, assessed as compliance and noncompliance, and maternal supportive parenting were observed during a challenging dyadic puzzle task. Results showed that child RSA exhibited quadratic change across the task on average, characterized by an expected initial decrease and subsequent recovery. Child behavioral regulation and its interaction with maternal supportive parenting were associated with interindividual differences in child RSA reactivity trajectories after controlling for child resting RSA. Children with higher compliance or lower noncompliance showed RSA decreases in response to task stressors but exhibited subsequent RSA recovery only when mothers displayed higher supportive parenting. Children with lower compliance or higher noncompliance displayed negligible RSA changes overall across the task, suggesting blunted or compromised RSA reactivity, regardless of supportive parenting levels. These findings demonstrate novel evidence that preschoolers' better behavioral regulation is related to their more adaptive physiological reactivity to stressors and that supportive parenting is needed to facilitate physiological recovery even in relatively better-regulated preschoolers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The influence of pretreatment respiratory sinus arrhythmia dimensions on trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy outcomes: Findings from a randomized controlled feasibility trial.

Child maltreatment is associated with respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) dysregulation, a physiological indicator of emotion regulation that predicts elevated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and may be a mechanism of action for exposure-based therapies, such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has been proposed as an adjunct to TF-CBT for improving emotion regulation following maltreatment. The current study reports findings from a randomized controlled feasibility trial (N = 33; Mage = 11.79 years, SD = 3.08; 63.6% White; 66.7% female) that measured youths' resting RSA, RSA reactivity, and RSA recovery in response to a pretreatment laboratory challenge. We tested whether (a) lower pretreatment resting RSA was associated with blunted RSA during the challenge; (b) either of the pretreatment RSA dimensions predicted more severe pretreatment PTSD symptoms; and (c) either of the pretreatment RSA dimensions predicted less severe posttreatment PTSD symptoms and, as an exploratory aim, whether this was moderated by treatment group (i.e., TF-CBT vs. TF-CBT + AAT). Results from multiple linear regression indicated that, after controlling for pretreatment symptom severity, there was a large effect size for higher resting RSA predicting less severe caregiver-reported posttreatment PTSD symptoms, β = -.52, p =.058, and higher RSA during recovery predicting less severe child-reported posttreatment PTSD symptoms, β = -.70, p =.056, although these findings were not significant. These preliminary results offer important insights for future studies to investigate how the ability to regulate RSA informs which children need additional support to benefit from psychotherapeutic treatment.

Effects of hearing acuity on psychophysiological responses to effortful speech perception

In recent studies, psychophysiological measures have been used as markers of listening effort, but there is limited research on the effect of hearing loss on such measures. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of hearing acuity on physiological responses and subjective measures acquired during different levels of listening demand, and to investigate the relationship between these measures. A total of 125 participants (37 males and 88 females, age range 37–72 years, pure-tone average hearing thresholds at the best ear between -5.0 to 68.8 dB HL and asymmetry between ears between 0.0 and 87.5 dB) completed a listening task. A speech reception threshold (SRT) test was used with target sentences spoken by a female voice masked by male speech. Listening demand was manipulated using three levels of intelligibility: 20 % correct speech recognition, 50 %, and 80 % (IL20 %/IL50 %/IL80 %, respectively). During the task, peak pupil dilation (PPD), heart rate (HR), pre-ejection period (PEP), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and skin conductance level (SCL) were measured. For each condition, subjective ratings of effort, performance, difficulty, and tendency to give up were also collected. Linear mixed effects models tested the effect of intelligibility level, hearing acuity, hearing asymmetry, and tinnitus complaints on the physiological reactivity (compared to baseline) and subjective measures. PPD and PEP reactivity showed a non-monotonic relationship with intelligibility level, but no such effects were found for HR, RSA, or SCL reactivity. Participants with worse hearing acuity had lower PPD at all intelligibility levels and showed lower PEP baseline levels. Additionally, PPD and SCL reactivity were lower for participants who reported suffering from tinnitus complaints. For IL80 %, but not IL50 % or IL20 %, participants with worse hearing acuity rated their listening effort to be relatively high compared to participants with better hearing. The reactivity of the different physiological measures were not or only weakly correlated with each other. Together, the results suggest that hearing acuity may be associated with altered sympathetic nervous system (re)activity. Research using psychophysiological measures as markers of listening effort to study the effect of hearing acuity on such measures are best served by the use of the PPD and PEP.

Adult attachment assessed via the ASA and AAI: Empirical convergence and links with autonomic physiological responding during attachment assessments

ABSTRACT This study examined the empirical convergence of Attachment Script Assessment (ASA) deactivation, hyperactivation, and anomalous scripts with conceptually corresponding attachment patterns assessed via the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and the significance of ASA dimensions for autonomic physiological reactivity during adult attachment assessments. Young adults’ (50% male; Mage = 19 years; 80% White/European American) ASA deactivation, hyperactivation, and anomalous content were significantly associated with AAI dismissing (r = .26-.38), preoccupied (r = .31-.35), and unresolved (r = .37) states of mind, respectively. ASA hyperactivation and anomalous content were associated with heightened RSA reactivity to the AAI and ASA, aligning with expectations that these attachment patterns capture the tendency to heighten expressions of negative, traumatic experiences. ASA deactivation was associated with smaller increases in electrodermal activity to the ASA—indicative of less sympathetic arousal—converging with the tendency of individuals higher in deactivation to avoid discussing attachment themes in the ASA.

Longitudinal associations between maternal harsh parenting and child temperament: The moderating role of children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia.

To better understand biology by environment interactions in early temperament, we examined whether children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; resting RSA and RSA reactivity) operated as a biological marker of differential susceptibility to maternal harsh parenting in predicting children's temperament. Participants were 133 mother-child dyads (53% male children) from families oversampled for lower income, higher life stress, and child maltreatment risk. Mothers reported harsh parenting at age 3 and children's temperament, including negative affectivity, effortful control, and surgency, at ages 3 and 4. Resting RSA was measured during a 3-min resting task. RSA reactivity was computed as a difference score between a 4-min toy cleanup task and the resting task. Results showed that the interaction between maternal harsh parenting and children's resting RSA significantly predicted negative affectivity, after controlling for sex, household income, and age 3 negative affectivity. Specifically, harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity among children with higher, but not lower, resting RSA. Similarly, maternal harsh parenting interacted with children's RSA reactivity to predict negative affectivity after adjusting for controls, such that harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity in children with higher, but not lower, RSA reactivity. These findings suggest that higher resting RSA and greater RSA reactivity may operate as markers of increased susceptibility to negative parenting in the development of negative affectivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Age-dependent associations between RSA reactivity, affective and cognitive regulation, and psychopathology risk in young children exposed to varying levels of socioeconomic disadvantage.

This study examined autonomic nervous system activity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) as a biomarker of psychopathology in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample (N=57) of young children ages 4-7years. RSA was measured at baseline and across four standardized tasks designed to assess self-regulation in both affective (i.e., "hot") and cognitive (i.e., "cool") contexts during early childhood. Our findings reveal that age moderated RSA activity, such that reduced RSA suppression was associated with a heightened risk of externalizing problems among older children during "cool" and "hot" contexts; for younger children, only RSA suppression during "hot" contexts predicted externalizing risk. The influence of socioeconomic disadvantage did not moderate the relationship between RSA and the risk of psychopathology, and there were minimal associations between RSA suppression and internalizing symptoms at this age range. These results suggest that autonomic variability may be a more effective predictor of psychopathology risk in older children, perhaps as they transition into formal schooling and face increasingly complex cognitive and social demands. Findings have implications for the identification of psychopathology in early developmental periods when regulation over emotions becomes essential for academic and social success.

Is respiratory sinus arrhythmia a modifiable index of symptom change in cognitive behavioral therapy for youth? A pooled-data analysis of a randomized trial

Objective We evaluated whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity and resting RSA—physiological markers reflecting the increase in heart rate with inspiration and decrease during expiration related to parasympathetic influence on the heart—are modifiable and predict symptom change during youth psychotherapy. Methods: Diverse youth (N = 158; ages 7–15; 48.1% female) received the Modular Approach to Therapy for Children and completed pre-treatment (pre), post-treatment (post), and 18-months postbaseline (18Mo) assessments. We measured resting RSA, RSA reactivity during stress induction, and psychopathology symptoms. Results: Pre-to-post and pre-to-18Mo, reactivity decreased, and resting RSA increased. Changes in reactivity and resting RSA, separately, did not predict reduced psychopathology. Yet, decreased reactivity combined with increased resting RSA predicted reduced psychopathology over time, suggesting that observed RSA changes were beneficial for some. Higher dosage of a module utilizing slow-breathing, muscle-relaxation, and imagery predicted greater pre-to-18Mo changes in reactivity and resting RSA, whereas a similar module with less emphasis on slow-breathing did not. Conclusions: Findings raise the possibility that youth reactivity and resting RSA could be modifiable during cognitive behavioral therapy and contribute to the amelioration of psychopathology. More studies are needed to determine whether resting RSA and RSA reactivity are modifiable indices of symptom change in slow-breathing practices and psychotherapy. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03153904, registered May 15, 2017.

Empathy, sympathy, and emotion regulation: A meta-analytic review.

Empathy, sympathy, and emotion regulation are core components of social-emotional development. Regulating vicariously induced negative emotions is thought to support feeling empathy and sympathy for others in need, but empirical evidence for such effects is mixed. Moreover, despite the longstanding conceptual distinction between empathy and sympathy, most researchers refer to and measure these constructs interchangeably. This meta-analysis examined associations between emotion regulation and empathy and/or sympathy in childhood and adolescence, as well as potential methodological, study, and sample moderators. Analyses were conducted on 58 studies (75 effect sizes; N = 25,831). There was a significant and positive overall association between emotion regulation and empathy/sympathy (r = .19, p < .001); however, most scales assessing empathy were conflated with other constructs. Accounting for conflation, emotion regulation was related to sympathy (r = .24, p < .001) but not empathy (r = .04, p = .38). Moreover, the association between emotion regulation and empathy/sympathy was not significant when baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA reactivity were examined as proxies of emotion regulation. Results were largely similar across sample characteristics (e.g., age group, sex, and culture). Conceptual implications for differentiating empathy and sympathy are discussed, as well as methodological considerations to maximize the quality and clarity of research on emotion regulation, empathy, and sympathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceived discrimination, model minority stereotyping, and anxiety symptoms in chinese-heritage college students.

Perceived racial discrimination has been associated with elevated anxiety symptoms. Less is known about the mental health implications of another race-related stressor, model minority stereotyping, which is a salient experience for Chinese-heritage youth. In addition, despite theoretical considerations and indirect empirical evidence suggesting that greater autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity may index sensitivity to race-related stressors, ANS reactivity has not been examined as a moderator of links between race-related stressors and mental health. The present study investigated cross-sectional associations between self-reports of two salient race-related stressors (perceived discrimination and model minority stereotyping) and anxiety symptoms in Chinese-heritage youth, as well as whether ANS reactivity moderates these relationships. Chinese-heritage U.S. college students (N = 198, 55.6% female, 18-25 years, Mage = 20.0 years) self-reported experiences with race-related stressors. ANS reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] and pre-ejection period [PEP]) to a video depicting discrimination was collected on a subsample of participants (N = 103). Although both race-related stressors were positively correlated with anxiety symptoms, only perceived discrimination was uniquely associated with anxiety symptoms. Further, RSA (but not PEP) reactivity moderated the relationship between perceived discrimination and anxiety symptoms, such that associations were stronger for participants with greater RSA withdrawal. Our results replicate findings on the discrimination-anxiety link in Chinese-heritage college students, and show that model minority stereotyping is correlated with greater anxiety symptoms. Findings suggest that individuals with heightened RSA reactivity may be especially vulnerable to the adverse effect of discrimination. These findings have implications for mental health services for Chinese-heritage U.S. college students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotion dysregulation and reward responsiveness as predictors of autonomic reactivity to an infant cry task among substance-using pregnant and postpartum women.

Maternal substance use may interfere with optimal parenting, lowering maternal responsiveness during interactions with their children. Previous work has identified maternal autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to parenting-relevant stressors as a promising indicator of real-world parenting behaviors. However, less is known about the extent to which individual differences in emotion dysregulation and reward processing, two mechanisms of substance use, relate to maternal ANS reactivity in substance-using populations. The current study examined associations among emotion dysregulation, reward responsiveness, and ANS reactivity to an infant cry task among 77 low-income and substance-using women who were either pregnant (n=63) or postpartum (n=14). Two indicators of ANS functioning were collected during a 9min computerized infant cry task (Crybaby task): respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period. Mothers also completed self-reported measures of emotion dysregulation and reward responsiveness. Analyses revealed that trait emotion regulation was associated with RSA reactivity to the Crybaby task, such that greater emotion dysregulation was associated with greater RSA reduction during the infant cry task than lower emotion dysregulation. Reward responsiveness was not significantly associated with either indicator of ANS reactivity to the task. Findings revealed distinct patterns of associations linking emotion dysregulation with ANS reactivity during a parenting-related computerized task, suggesting that emotion regulation may be a key intervention target for substance-using mothers.

Pregnant women's autonomic responses to an infant cry predict young infants' behavioral avoidance during the still-face paradigm.

Research suggests that women's autonomic nervous system responses to infant cries capture processes that affect their parenting behaviors. The aim of this study was to build on prior work by testing whether pregnant women's autonomic responses to an unfamiliar infant crying also predict their infants' emerging regulation abilities. Participants included 97 women in their third trimester of pregnancy, located in the United States. Most participants identified as White/non-Hispanic (48%) or Hispanic (30%), their mean age was approximately 30 years, and the modal family income was $40,000-$79,999. Pregnant women's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and skin conductance levels (SCL)-which are thought to capture emotional engagement and behavioral inhibition, respectively-were measured while the women watched a relaxing video and a video of an unfamiliar infant crying. Approximately 7 months later, women and their infants completed the still-face paradigm (SFP). Infants' avoidance and resistance behaviors during the SFP reunions were rated. Pregnant women's RSA and SCL responses to the infant cry video uniquely predicted infants' avoidance (but not resistance) during the SFP. Infants displayed higher levels of avoidance when their mothers exhibited lower levels of RSA reactivity or when their mothers exhibited higher levels of SCL activity in response to the infant cry video. Maternal sensitivity during mother-infant free-play interactions did not mediate the associations between pregnant women's autonomic responses to the cry video and infants' avoidant behavior during the SFP. Discussion focuses on potential mechanisms underlying associations between pregnant women's autonomic responses to infant distress and infants' socioemotional development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and trajectories of anxiety and depressive symptoms in early adolescence

In children and adults, individual differences in patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; i.e., interactions between resting RSA and RSA reactivity to stress) have emerged as a central predictor of internalizing symptoms. However, it is unclear whether individual differences in patterns of RSA also contribute to internalizing symptoms during the key developmental period of early adolescence, when rates of internalizing symptoms sharply increase. In the present multi-wave longitudinal study, we assessed whether patterns of RSA predicted trajectories of the two most common types of internalizing symptoms among adolescents: anxiety and depression. In the baseline session, we assessed RSA at rest and in response to a psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]) in a sample of 75 early adolescents (Mage = 12.85). Youth then completed measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms at baseline and four times over approximately two years. Findings indicate that RSA patterns predicted trajectories of anxiety, but not depression. Specifically, region of significance analyses indicated that individuals with high resting RSA who demonstrated RSA augmentation to the lab stressor evinced decreasing anxiety over the follow-up period. In direct contrast, adolescents with high resting RSA in combination with RSA withdrawal to the stressor exhibited a trajectory of increasing anxiety. Findings provide preliminary evidence for understanding RSA as a developmentally salient risk or protective factor.

PEP reward reactivity moderates the effects of RSA reactivity on antisocial behavior and substance use.

Integrating Polyvagal Theory and Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST), we examined pre-ejection period (PEP) reward reactivity, which was suggested to index trait impulsivity, as a moderator between respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity and antisocial behavior (ASB), and substance use in an urban male, adult sample. To understand the inconsistent findings between RSA reactivity and externalizing problems, we proposed to study both negatively and positively valenced tasks for RSA reactivity and to include PEP reward reactivity as a moderator for the RSA-behavior link. Data were collected from an urban sample of 131 male adults (active offenders, demographic controls, and college students). ICG (impedance cardiography) and ECG (electrocardiogram) were recorded, computing PEP (sympathetic nervous system activity marker) and RSA (parasympathetic nervous system activity marker), while participants completed the modified Trier Social Stress Test and a simple reward task. Reactivity was calculated by subtracting the baseline from the task activity. Consistent with prior studies, more RSA withdrawal to stress and less PEP shortening to reward predicted the most ASB and substance use. Less RSA withdrawal to reward and more PEP shortening to reward predicted the most ASB and substance use. We incorporated autonomic space, RST, and Polyvagal Theory to discuss our findings, and specifically highlight how clarifying what each reactivity captures based on the task demand (e.g., presence of social threat, need for vagal-mediated social affiliative behavior) can illuminate our understanding of the result patterns.

Self-esteem moderates the effect of acute stresses on individuals' trust behaviors

The current study examined the moderating effect of self-esteem on the relationship between acute stress and individuals' trust behaviors. Specifically, one hundred and forty-seven participants were selected and randomly assigned to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or the control condition after which performing the trust game. The results showed that participants' exposure to acute stress exhibited less investment in the trust game than their counterparts under the control condition. Moreover, although the main effects of RSA reactivity to the speech or math task were not significant, the effect of RSA reactivity to the speech task on the amount of investment in trust game was significantly moderated by individuals' self-esteem. Specifically, comparted with individuals with high self-esteem, for individuals with low self-esteem, their high RSA reactivity to acute stresses exhibited less amount invested in trust game. Thus, the findings of the current study reveal the moderating factors of self-esteem in the relationship between acute psychological stress and trust behaviors and provide some new information about the underlying physical mechanisms.