Abstract

Abstract

Toward greater specificity in the prediction of externalizing problems in the context of interparental conflict, interactions between children's parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system (PNS and SNS) activity were examined as moderators. PNS activity was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA reactivity (RSA-R) to lab challenges. SNS activity was indexed by skin conductance level (SCL) and SCL reactivity (SCL-R) to lab challenges. Moderation hypotheses were examined in 3 multi-informant studies with children ranging in age between 7 and 9 in Studies 1 and 2 and between 6 and 12 in Study 3. Findings are robust across studies and provide the first reported evidence of interactions between PNS and SNS activity as moderators of the association between children's exposure to marital conflict and externalizing behaviors. More specifically, opposing action of the PNS and SNS (i.e., coactivation and coinhibition) operated as a vulnerability factor for externalizing behavior in the context of marital conflict. Conversely, coordinated action of the PNS and SNS (i.e., reciprocal PNS or SNS activation) operated as a protective factor. Results are supportive of the authors' proposed biopsychosocial framework in which individual differences in the coordination of the activity of the PNS and SNS can function as vulnerability or protective factors in the context of family risk. Findings extend current theory indicating the importance of multisystem investigations for clarifying inconsistencies and discrepancies in the literature linking environmental stress, physiological responses, and child adjustment.

The symphonic structure of childhood stress reactivity: Patterns of sympathetic, parasympathetic, and adrenocortical responses to psychological challenge

“…With such an approach, Salomon et al (2000) found that youth, ages 7–8 through midteens, classified as co-inhibitors according to Berntson et al’s SNS–PNS model, tended to come from families with higher levels of conflict and hostility than did youth classified as co-activators. Somewhat different results were reported by El Sheikh et al (2009), who found that, in later childhood (i.e., ages 8–10 years), co-inhibitors and co-activators were at greater risk for behavior problems following exposure to family conflict than were reciprocal sympathetic or parasympathetic co-activators.…”

“…Some studies have found that additive linear associations and two-way interactions between different markers of physiological reactivity predict negative outcomes, whereas others report that low reactivity is associated with elevated risk or that baseline levels and not reactivity per se predict risk (El Sheikh et al, 2009; Obradović, 2012; Salomon et al, 2000; Weiner, 1992). A primary reason for the varied findings may be that empirical research has paid minimal attention to responses across neurobiological systems, including whether differential patterns exist in the ways in which the systems’ responses are coordinated when exposed to challenge.…”

“…Some studies have adjusted for individual differences in basal arousal, for instance, by calculating adjusted difference scores or by computing area under the curve (Harkness, Stewart, & Wynne-Edwards, 2011; Quas, Murowchick, Bensadoun, & Boyce, 2002). However, such statistical approaches fail to address the possibility, which has been substantiated by numerous studies, that basal levels of arousal per se are linked to prior experiences and are predictive of subsequent health (e.g., El Sheikh et al, 2009; Lupien, King, Meaney, & McEwen, 2001; Quevedo, Johnson, Loman, LaFavor, & Gunnar, 2012; Tarullo & Gunnar, 2006). A few investigations have relied on multilevel modeling procedures in their analyses that take into account children’s baseline arousal and hence adjust for initial conditions (e.g., El-Sheikh, Keller, & Erath, 2007; Quas, Yim, Edelstein, Cahill, & Rush, 2011; Shirtcliff & Essex, 2008).…”

Juvenile onset depression alters cardiac autonomic balance in response to psychological and physical challenges

“…In fact, the historical views of reciprocally determined activity in both branches of the autonomic nervous system (e.g., activity increases in one branch would be accompanied by invariable decreases in the other) have been largely overturned by new theory and data, which indicate that both autonomic branches can react either independently or together, resulting in complex physiological patterns, including co-activation and co-inhibition (Berntson, et al, 1991; Berntson et al 2008). Importantly, theory and empirical evidence have indicated that reciprocal sympathetic activation (increases in sympathetic activity in conjunction with decreases in parasympathetic activity) during stress responses are ordinarily adaptive, whereas reciprocal parasympathetic activation would be most adaptive in calm and relaxed states (Berntson et al, 1994; El-Sheikh et al, 2009). Thus, examination of the balance of parasympathetic and sympathetic activity may lead to a more complete picture of regulatory functioning and risk for depression.…”

Prevention effects on trajectories of African American adolescents’ exposure to interparental conflict and depressive symptoms.

“…Exposure to high levels of interparental conflict negatively affects children's mental, emotional, social, and physiological well-being (Cummings & Davies, 2002; El-Sheikh et al, 2009). These effects appear as early as infancy (Du Rocher Schudlich, White, Fleischhauer, & Fitzgerald, 2011) and continue into adulthood (Shimkowski & Schrodt, 2012).…”