Attachment and emotion regulation in middle childhood: changes in affect and vagal tone during a social stress task

Abstract

In middle childhood, more securely attached children show better emotion regulation when assessed as general tendencies (e.g., coping style), but studies looking at emotion in response to specific stressors have revealed mixed results. This study examined how attachment security, avoidance, and ambivalence-- assessed with a story stem task (99 children, 9 – 11 years old)-- relates to dynamic indices of affective and autonomic responses (baseline, reactivity, recovery). Reports of positive and negative affect, and high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), were assessed during a social stressor task. Securely attached children did not show reactivity effects, although they did show greater recovery of positive affect after the task ended. Avoidant children showed both less reactivity and recovery of negative affect, suggesting a dampened emotional response. Ambivalent children showed more reactivity and more recovery of negative affect. Autonomic response changes were only evident for ambivalent children, who showed less suppression of HF-HRV variability under stress.

vmPFC activation during a stressor predicts positive emotions during stress recovery

“…Poorly managed responses to stressors add to cumulative biological burdens that make the organism more vulnerable to developing diseases or exacerbating existing disease symptoms ( McEwen, 2000 ; Seeman et al , 2001 ). Negative emotions are essential components of stress responses ( van Winkel et al , 2015 ; Abtahi and Kerns, 2017 ; Crosswell et al , 2017 ; Neubauer et al , 2017 ; Richardson, 2017 ). Via negative emotions, psychological stress is associated with cardiovascular diseases, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), asthma and slowed wound healing ( Cohen et al , 2007 ; Maple et al , 2015 ; Trueba et al , 2016 ).…”

The Maternal Role On Emotional Competence Development of Early Childhood

“…Additionally, Panfile & Laible (2012) state that attachment predicts empathy through mediation of children's emotional regulation. Abtahi & Kerns (2017) point out that secure children show faster positive emotional recovery. Children with avoidance attachment exhibited lower recovery of negative emotions.…”

“…Method of laboratory observation with different procedures used to assess emotional competence in children, i.e. emotional observation of emotions and emotional regulation of infants (Spangler & Zimmermann, 2014), a series of short emotional laboratory tasks (Perlman et al, 2008), puppet procedure (Cole et al, 2009), Frustrating Puzzle Task, LabTab (Perry et al, 2012;Harden et al, 2016), and Trier Social Stress Task (Abtahi & Kerns, 2017).…”

“…i.e. measurement of adrenocortical physiological responses (Spangler & Zimmermann, 2014), EKF for assess vagal suppression (Perry et al, 2012), Physiological measures of the child's cardiac activity and resting heart rate (Perlman et al, 2008), and High Frequency Heart Rate Variability (HF-HRV) to measure vagal tone (Abtahi & Kerns, 2017).…”

Peran persepsi keterlibatan orang-tua dan strategi pengasuhan terhadap parenting self-efficacy

“…Pada tahap perkembangan usia kanak-kanak madya (middle childhood) misalnya, anak pada tahap ini berada di rentang usia 5-12 tahun (Collins, Madsen, & Susman-Stillman; Bornstein, 2002) dan mengalami pertumbuhan kognitif untuk mengembangkan konsep yang lebih kompleks mengenai kemampuan regulasi emosi (Movahed Abtahi & Kerns, 2017). Selain itu, pada tahap ini anak akan lebih banyak menghabiskan waktu di sekolah dan bersosialisasi dengan teman sebaya sehingga adanya perubahan figur attachment (Movahed Abtahi & Kerns, 2017). Untuk itu tugas pengasuhan anak pada usia kanak-kanak madya banyak yang perlu diperhatikan oleh orangtua, seperti memberikan pengawasan dan pengarahan kepada anak-anak dari jarak tertentu ketika mereka sedang berada di sekolah atau bersama dengan teman-temannya.…”