Cardiac vagal tone and quality of parenting show concurrent and time-ordered associations that diverge in abusive, neglectful, and non-maltreating mothers.

Abstract

Concurrent and lagged maternal respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was monitored in the context of parenting. One hundred and forty-one preschooler-mother dyads—involved with child welfare as documented perpetrators of child abuse or neglect, or non-maltreating (non-CM)—were observed completing a resting baseline and joint challenge task. Parenting behaviors were coded using SASB (Benjamin, 1996) and maternal RSA was simultaneously monitored, longitudinally-nested within-person (WP), and subjected to MLM. Abusive and neglectful mothers displayed less positive parenting and more strict/hostile control, relative to non-CM mothers. Non-CM mothers displayed greater WP heterogeneity in variance over time in their RSA scores, and greater consistency over time in their parenting behaviors, relative to abusive or neglectful mothers. CM group also moderated concurrent and lagged WP associations in RSA and positive parenting. When abusive mothers displayed lower RSA in a given epoch, relative to their task average, they showed concurrent increases in positive parenting, and higher subsequent levels of hostile control in the following epoch, suggesting that it is physiologically taxing for abusive mothers to parent in positive ways. In contrast, lagged effects for non-CM mothers were observed in which RSA decreases led to subsequent WP increases in positive parenting and decreases in control. Reversed models were significant only for neglectful mothers: Increases in positive parenting led to subsequent increases in RSA levels, and increases in strict, hostile control led to subsequent RSA decreases. These results provide new evidence that concurrent and time-ordered coupling in maternal physiology and behavior during parenting vary in theoretically meaningful ways across CM and non-CM mothers. Implications for intervention and study limitations are discussed.

Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability in Parents at Risk for Child Physical Abuse

“…Although baseline differences in RSA have not always been observed when comparing maltreating parents and nonmaltreating parents (e.g., Reijman et al, 2014;Skowron et al, 2013), the present study adds to accumulating evidence that high-risk/maltreating parents do not exhibit significant RSA withdrawal in response to stressors/cognitive challenges (e.g., Joosen, Mesman, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Pieper, et al, 2013;Reijman et al, 2014;Skowron et al, 2013).…”

Emotion dysregulation and dyadic conflict in depressed and typical adolescents: Evaluating concordance across psychophysiological and observational measures

“…Recently, there has been strong interest in understanding emotions in social contexts (Connell, Hughes-Scalise, Klostermann, & Azem, 2011; Helm et al, 2012; Skowron, Cipriano-Essel, Benjamin, Pincus, & Van Ryzin, 2013). When emotions occur while one is alone, traditional intra personal theories may apply.…”

State of the science on prevention of elder abuse and lessons learned from child abuse and domestic violence prevention: Toward a conceptual framework for research

“…One idea gaining traction is that the aversive parenting observed in CM parents is fueled by deficits in parent self-regulation, which trigger acts of CM. To the extent that positive parenting reflects underlying efforts of CM parents to inhibit dominant/typical responding and exert self-control (Skowron, Cipriano-Essel, Benjamin, Pincus, & Van Ryzin, 2013), it may be that CM parents deplete their self-regulatory capacities more quickly than do low-risk parents, thus leading to overreliance on harsh, controlling parenting that may be experienced as less demanding.…”

“…Specifically, it has been found that lower maternal vagal tone (i.e., lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia) in physically abusive mothers is associated with increased positive parenting in the moment, but subsequent increases in hostile control then immediately follow (Skowron et al, 2013). In contrast with abusive parents, divergent patterns of physiology—behavior associations were observed in non-abusive, neglectful mothers.…”

“…In contrast with abusive parents, divergent patterns of physiology—behavior associations were observed in non-abusive, neglectful mothers. Among neglectful mothers, warm, nurturing parenting led to greater vagal tone (i.e., physiological calm), whereas reliance on more harsh, aversive control parenting led to significant declines in maternal vagal tone (i.e., greater physiological arousal; Skowron et al, 2013). …”