Cardiac autonomic functioning across stress and reward: Links with depression in emerging adults

Is autonomic functioning distinctly associated with anxiety and unsociability in preschoolers?

There are many benefits of peer interactions for children's social, emotional, and cognitive development, and isolation from peers may have negative consequences for children. Although biological processes may underlie social withdrawal broadly, distinct patterns may be associated with withdrawal behaviors depending on their underlying motivation (e.g., shy versus disinterested). This study investigated the role of autonomic nervous system activity, as assessed via skin conductance level (SCL) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in predicting changes in unsociability (e.g., lack of interest in peers) and anxious-fearfulness (e.g., discomfort among peers). Data were collected using a community sample of 92 US preschool children (45.7% female; Mage = 45.51 months, SDage = 3.81 months) at two time points one year apart. Gender differences were also explored. Baseline physiology was assessed while viewing a neutral video clip, and reactivity was assessed while viewing social exclusion and post-aggression discussion videos. For all children, coinhibition (i.e., SCL inhibition accompanied by RSA inhibition) to the post-aggression discussion video and blunted SCL activation to the exclusion video were prospectively associated with higher levels of anxious-fearfulness one year later. For boys only, baseline reciprocal sympathetic activation (i.e., SCL activation and RSA inhibition) was prospectively related to higher levels of unsociability one year later. For girls only, RSA inhibition in response to the post-aggression discussion video was prospectively related to higher levels of unsociability one year later. Findings contribute to a growing literature on autonomic reactivity in preschoolers' adjustment and suggest possible differences in the physiological processes underlying unsociability and anxious-fearfulness.

A complex interplay between autonomic symptoms and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress

BACKGROUND

We evaluated the influence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress on the results of COMPASS-31 in a large population of people referred to the head-up tilt test (HUTT) and healthy controls (HC).

METHODS

Nine hundred fifty-nine consecutive patients referred to HUTT and 518 HC were enrolled. All participants completed Composite Autonomic Symptom Score-31 (COMPASS-31). Stress symptoms were evaluated by Depression, Anxiety, and Stress-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire. We corrected the result of the COMPASS-31 with the independent predictors in order to improve the specificity of the test.

RESULTS

In both patients and HC, COMPASS-31 was higher in participants with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (all p < 0.001). In a multivariable linear regression analysis, HC was negative, while female sex and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress were independent positive predictors of COMPASS-31. In HC, COMPASS-31 had a median of 7.913, and this value differentiated between HC and patients with a high sensitivity of 87% and low specificity of 50%. In order to adjust the value of COMPASS-31 with the parameters that were significant in the multivariable linear regression model, we calculated the new corrected COMAPSS-31 (cCOMPASS-31), which had comparable sensitivity of 77%, but an increased specificity of 73%.

CONCLUSION

This study has shown that symptoms of depression, anxiety, and/or stress worsen the perceived severity of autonomic symptoms in people with symptoms of orthostatic intolerance and healthy population. cCOMPASS-31 is a valuable tool that can help clinicians in discerning the true autonomic background of patients' complaints.

Youth coping and cardiac autonomic functioning: Implications for social and academic adjustment

Extending literature on youth coping and stress physiology, this two-wave longitudinal study examined independent and interactive roles of youth coping with daily stressors (i.e., peer, academic) and cardiac autonomic functioning in subsequent social and academic adjustment across the transition to middle school. Our sample consisted of 100 typically developing youth (10-12 years old at Time 1, 53 boys, 43% ethnic minorities) who reported on their coping strategies in response to peer and academic stress. Youth participated in laboratory tasks (i.e., baseline, mother-youth conversations about youth's actual peer and academic challenges) during which sympathetic and parasympathetic activities were recorded, and cardiac autonomic functioning indicators were derived. Youth, mothers, and teachers reported on various aspects of youths' social and academic adjustment at Times 1 and 2. Results revealed that, for both peer and academic domains, greater use of engagement coping strategies was prospectively linked with better adjustment 7 months later, but only among youth who exhibited higher (greater sympathetic-parasympathetic coactivation) but not lower (limited coactivation, or coinhibition) cardiac autonomic regulation at baseline. Findings suggest that a match between more engagement coping behaviors and greater cardiac autonomic capacity to coactivate the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches is linked with better social and academic adjustment.

The impact of social disadvantage on autonomic physiology of latinx adolescents: The role of environmental risks

The experience of poverty embodies complex, multidimensional stressors that may adversely affect physiological and psychological domains of functioning. Compounded by racial/ethnic discrimination, the financial aspect of family poverty typically coincides with additional social and physical environmental risks such as pollution exposure, housing burden, elevated neighborhood unemployment, and lower neighborhood education levels. In this study, we investigated the associations of multidimensional social disadvantage throughout adolescence with autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning at 17 years. Two hundred and twenty nine low-income Mexican-American adolescents (48.6% female) and their parents were assessed annually between the ages of 10 and 16. Participants' census tracts were matched with corresponding annual administrative data of neighborhood housing burden, education, unemployment, drinking water quality, and fine particulate matter. We combined measures of adolescents' electrodermal response and respiratory sinuses arrhythmia at rest and during a social exclusion challenge (Cyberball) to use as ANS indices of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively. Controlling for family income-to-needs, youth exposed to greater cumulative water and air pollution from ages 10-16 displayed altered patterns of autonomic functioning at rest and during the social challenge. Conversely, youth living in areas with higher housing burden displayed healthy patterns of autonomic functioning. Altogether, results suggest that toxin exposure in youths' physical environments disrupts the ANS, representing a plausible mechanism by which pollutants and social disadvantage influence later physical and mental health.