Child and maternal attachment predict school-aged children’s psychobiological convergence

Multisystem physiological reactivity during help-seeking for attachment needs in school-aged children: differences as a function of attachment

In this study, we sought to expand on what is currently known regarding autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity in middle childhood as a function of attachment. ANS activity includes multiple indices - respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is an index of parasympathetic nervous system activation (PNS) and electrodermal activity (EDA) is an index of sympathetic nervous system activation (SNS). Children (N = 103) completed Child Attachment Interviews and read vignettes describing situations aimed to activate attachment needs (NEED; e.g., getting hurt, which can elicit need for comfort or assistance) and help-seeking (HS; when children experience need and seek comfort from attachment figures), while SNS and PNS reactivity were monitored. Attachment was not associated with children's SNS or PNS reactivity during NEED, but attachment was associated with physiological reactivity during HS: Dismissing attachment was associated with greater SNS activation (higher EDA) and preoccupied attachment with PNS deactivation (lower RSA, greater vagal withdrawal) during HS.

Reducing Anxiety and Social Stress in Primary Education: A Breath-Focused Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Intervention

Primary school students suffer from high levels of anxiety and stress. Having emotional regulation abilities can help them to manage challenging emotional situations. Conscious and slow breathing is a physiological, emotional regulation strategy that is feasible for primary school students to learn. Following Polyvagal Theory and PMER Theory, this research presents the results of a breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention. The intervention aimed to reduce anxiety and physiological and social stress in primary school children. A total of 585 students (46.4% girls and 53.6% boys) from the same public school, aged between 7 and 12 years (M = 8.51; SD = 1.26), participated in this study. To assess the impact of training, a mixed design was used with two groups (Treatment and Control groups), two evaluation phases (Pretest and Post-test), and three educational cycles (first, second and third cycles). To examine heart rate variability, emWave software was used and anxiety and social stress were measured by the BASC II test. The results showed that after the intervention, the students learned to breathe consciously. Moreover, they reduced their levels of anxiety (M(SD)_pretest = 12.81(2.22) vs. M(SD)_posttest = 13.70(1.98)) and stress (M(SD)_pretest = 12.20(1.68) vs. M(SD)_posttest = 12.90(1.44)). The work also discusses the limitations and benefits of this type of intervention in primary schools.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between parenting and child autonomic nervous system activity

Parental socialization may influence the development of children's autonomic nervous system (ANS), a key stress-response system. However, to date no quantitative synthesis of the literature linking parenting and child ANS physiology has been conducted. To address this gap, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis. A systematic review of the literature identified 103 studies (n = 13,044 participants) with available effect sizes describing the association between parenting and either parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity in children. The overall analysis revealed non-significant associations between parenting and child ANS physiology on average. However, moderation analyses revealed a positive association between more positive parenting and higher resting PNS activity that was stronger when a study was experimental rather than correlational, and when the sample included children with a clinical condition. In conclusion, well-controlled experimental studies show that positive parenting is associated with the development of higher resting PNS activity, an effect that may be stronger among children who are at elevated developmental risk.

School-aged children with higher anxiety symptoms show greater correspondence between subjective negative emotions and autonomic arousal

Individuals exhibit variability in the degree of correspondence between autonomic and subjective indicators of emotional experience. The current study examined whether convergence between autonomic arousal and negative emotions during emotion-inducing story vignettes is associated with internalizing symptoms in school-aged children. A diverse sample of 97 children aged 8 to 12 years participated in this study in which they reported on their anxiety and depression. Children's electrodermal activity was assessed while they read vignettes depicting children experiencing sadness and fear. Participants also reported on their emotional reaction to the vignettes. Children's anxiety and electrodermal activity to fear vignettes were associated only at high levels, but not mean or low levels, of self-reported negative emotions to fear vignettes. These findings suggest that hyperawareness, in which self-reported negative emotionality is high when physiological reactivity is also high, is associated with greater risk for anxiety, but not depression, during middle childhood.

A preliminary study of early childhood parenting and adult past month drug use risk in low-income African American women

PURPOSE

This preliminary study was designed to assess the feasibility of examining early childhood parenting factors and their relationship with adult past month drug use among low-income African American women.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey of 156 low-income African American women was conducted. Measures included the childhood parental bonding scale, frequency of exposure to corporal punishment (CP) in childhood, The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) and The Differentiation of Self Scale. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the relationship between the primary predictors, latent parental bonding and corporal punishment exposure, with past month drug use. The intermediary construct, emotional reactivity, was also included in the SEM model to test mechanisms of mediation.

RESULTS

There was a significant main effect for maternal care on lower emotional reactivity patterns in adulthood. There was also a significant main effect for frequent CP on higher emotional reactivity patterns in adulthood. The relationship between both parenting measures and drug use were mediated by emotional reactivity.

CONCLUSION

Childhood maternal factors are a strong predictor of adult past month drug use, and this may be accounted for, in part, by the influence that parenting patterns in childhood have on adult emotional reactivity patterns. These observations should be examined in a longitudinal study to determine the stability of our observation that CP in childhood, even when controlling for positive maternal bonding patterns, influences emotional reactivity patterns that predispose an individual to negative coping strategies, such as drug use, in adulthood, among low-income African American women.