Children’s Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms over Time: The Role of Individual Differences in Patterns of RSA Responding

Abstract

We examined associations between basal respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in conjunction with RSA regulation with the hypothesis that their interaction would explain unique variability in children's prospective adjustment 2 years later. Participants were 176 children (98 girls; 78 boys) in middle childhood. RSA regulation was assessed through social and problem-solving challenges. Parents reported on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Interactions between RSA baseline and regulation to the social stressor predicted children's later internalizing symptoms. Interactions between RSA baseline and responding to the problem-solving stressor predicted children's externalizing symptoms. The highest levels of internalizing symptoms were predicted for children with both lower basal RSA and higher RSA suppression. The highest levels of externalizing symptoms were predicted for children who demonstrated lower basal RSA in conjunction with RSA augmentation. Findings highlight the importance of the contemporaneous consideration of basal RSA and RSA regulation in the prediction of developmental psychopathology symptomology.

Atypical patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia index an endophenotype for depression

“…Thus, further studies of RSA patterns may be useful for elucidating the mechanisms by which depression risk is transmitted within families. Our finding of elevated depressive symptom trajectories among youth with atypical RSA patterns is in line with reports by other investigators using healthy child samples (Hinnant & El-Sheikh, 2009, 2013). …”

“…Recent theoretical and empirical work suggests that studying resting RSA and RSA reactivity individually provides an incomplete picture of the relationship between the PNS and adaptive functioning (Del Giudice, Ellis, & Shirtcliff, 2011; El-Sheikh & Erath, 2011; Hinnant & El-Sheikh, 2009, 2013). This notion was raised in Lacey’s (1959) seminal work, which showed that a single index of a physiological system may obscure the extent of interindividual differences.…”

“…RSA withdrawal to an interpersonal stressor (normative response) in the context of high resting RSA levels has been shown to prospectively predict lower internalizing symptoms in children (Hinnant & El-Sheikh, 2009), and membership in the normative symptom trajectory group relative to those with sustained childhood internalizing problems across middle to late childhood (Hinnant & El-Sheikh, 2013). In both of these studies, combined RSA indices provided incremental prediction beyond individual indices of resting RSA or RSA reactivity.…”

Future Directions in Emotion Dysregulation and Youth Psychopathology

“…This reflects the emotion dysregulation aspect of externalizing behavior (see Beauchaine et al, 2007;Beauchaine et al, 2009;Beauchaine & Gatzke-Kopp, 2012). In contrast, less RSA withdrawal is found among externalizing samples than controls during attention demanding, executive function, and problem-solving tasks (e.g., Dietrich et al, 2007;Hinnant & El-Sheikh, 2009;Obradović et al, 2010). This likely reflects attentional difficulties among externalizers (see Beauchaine, 2001;Rash & AguirreCamacho, 2012).…”

Sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to social stress across adolescence

“…Conversely, low tonic RSA reflects rigidity or a diminished capacity for flexible responsivity (Ode, Hilmert, Zielke, & Robinson, 2010). Low tonic RSA has been associated with a host of emotion-related problems including aggression (Gordis, Feres, Olezeski, Rabkin,& Trickett, 2010;Hinnant & El-Sheik, 2009;Mezzacappa et al, 1997), anxiety (Kawachi, Sparrow, Vokonas, & Weiss, 1995;Watkins et al, 1998;Yeragani et al, 1993), and depression (Carney et al, 1995;Krittayaphong et al, 1997;Licht et al, 2008). Thus, even in the absence of a stressor, tonic HRV can reveal a great deal about an individual's emotional functioning.…”