Distinguishing youths at risk for anxiety disorders from self‐reported BIS sensitivity and its psychophysiological concomitants

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore the psychophysiological concomitants of self-reported behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity in adolescents (12 to 17 years old) supposed to be at risk for anxiety disorders. Twenty participants with high scores in self-reported BIS sensitivity (at-risk group) were matched in age and sex to 20 participants scoring in the normal range in BIS sensitivity (control group). Negative affect, negative emotion regulation style, and anxiety symptomatology were assessed by means of self-reported measures. Cardiac and electrodermal response signals were recorded during baseline, paced breathing, exposure to an attentional task with response cost and fear-relevant slides conditions. The at-risk group exhibited higher scores on measures of negative affect, negative emotion regulation style, and anxiety symptomatology than their control counterparts. After controlling for negative styles of emotion regulation, groups did not differ in skin conductance reactivity during the attentional task with response cost, but participants at risk exhibited more nonspecific skin conductance responses than the control group during baseline recording. Regarding the cardiac concomitants, participants at risk presented lower vagal tone at resting conditions as compared to participants in the control group. Additionally, at-risk participants exhibited lower flexibility across experimental conditions in heart rate and cardiac sample entropy measures than participants in the control group. These findings add knowledge on psychophysiological concomitants of BIS sensitivity and are discussed in light of associations between temperament and development of anxiety disorders in youth. They show how psychophysiological patterns observed in resting conditions could be useful endophenotypes to reliably detect individuals at risk before the disorder onset.

Non-linear Heart Rate Variability as a Discriminator of Internalizing Psychopathology and Negative Affect in Children With Internalizing Problems and Healthy Controls

“…From a more functional perspective, reduced SampEn has been linked to reduced flexibility in the neurovisceral system in adolescents at risk for anxiety disorder (Balle et al, 2013 ). A hypothesis in line with this is that non-linear HRV represents an index of the flexibility of the organization of the neurocardiac system, linked to underlying brain connectivity (Young and Benton, 2015 ).…”

Heart Rate Variability in Healthy Non-Concussed Youth Athletes: Exploring the Effect of Age, Sex, and Concussion-Like Symptoms

“…This study examined linear methods of HRV analysis and thus, the findings in this study can only be applied to linear measures of HRV. However, the use of non-linear methods of analysis (e.g., DFA and SampEn) is warranted to construct a broader understanding on healthy ANS function in youth athletes; it is possible that non-linear methods reveal sensitivities in self-reported symptoms that linear methods cannot capture ( 65 , 74 , 75 ). Finally, the use ECG lead-based technology may have yielded enhanced accuracy in recording the heart rate signal compared to the Polar technology used within this study ( 76 ).…”

Taking a few deep breaths significantly reduces children's physiological arousal in everyday settings: Results of a preregistered video intervention

“…We were unable to identify any studies investigating the association between deep breathing and RSA in children or adolescents. One study of 40 adolescents showed that 3 min of paced—but not deep—breathing had no effect on RSA levels when compared with their baseline RSA values (Balle et al., 2013). In that study, the respiration rate of 15 breaths per minute (0.25 Hz) may not have affected RSA because it does not represent a meaningful slowdown relative to typical respiration rates (0.15−0.40 Hz).…”