Maternal negative affect moderates behavioral and physiological synchrony in Latinx and Black mother–child dyads

Abstract

Positive behavioral synchrony (PBS) between mothers and children involves the bidirectional exchange of verbal and nonverbal communication. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony reflects the concordance between mother-child physiological states. Both PBS and RSA synchrony can be undermined by psychopathology symptoms. Latinx and Black families may experience contextual stressors that contribute to heightened symptoms of psychopathology, yet minimal research has examined relations between psychopathology symptoms with PBS and RSA synchrony in these families. The present study assessed associations between maternal depressive and child internalizing symptoms, mother and child negative affect (NA), and PBS and RSA synchrony in a sample of 100 Latina and Black mothers (M age = 34.48 years, SD = 6.39 years) and their children (M age = 6.83 years, SD = 1.50 years). Dyads engaged in a video-recorded stress task where RSA was collected continuously. Videos were later coded for PBS and mother and child NA. Mothers reported on their depressive and child's internalizing symptoms. Maternal NA was associated with weak PBS and negative RSA synchrony. Neither depressive and internalizing symptoms nor child NA were associated with PBS or RSA synchrony. Results highlight the potency of maternal NA on behavioral and physiological synchrony in Latinx and Black families.

RSA instability in mothers of preschoolers and adolescents is related to observations of supportive parenting behaviors

“…A plethora of literature has linked emotional instability with elevations in psychopathology symptoms (Houben et al, 2015;Sperry & Kwapil, 2022;Sperry et al, 2020), and our findings provide preliminary evidence for the relation between depressive symptoms and RSA instability in mothers. Research demonstrates that mothers experiencing internalizing symptoms may exhibit physiological and emotional dysregulation (Hale et al, 2023;Han et al, 2016;Lunkenheimer et al, 2018;Somers et al, 2021). Literature also posits that dynamic fluctuations in RSA may reflect adaptive engagement with one's environment and indicate flexible responding to contextual stressors (Grossman & Taylor, 2007).…”

“…In fact, a recent systematic review concluded that during distressing dyadic tasks (e.g., puzzle task), parents with greater parasympathetic nervous system responding demonstrated higher rates of unsupportive parenting behaviors when compared to parents with less physiological reactivity (Badovinac & colleagues et al, 2023). Prior work also demonstrates that mothers with fewer internalizing symptoms and more supportive parenting behaviors (e.g., parental warmth, validation, sensitivity) display higher levels of RSA suppression (i.e., greater decrease from baseline to stress task) compared to mothers with more symptoms and fewer supportive behaviors (Eisenberg et al, 2012;Fuchs et al, 2021;Hale et al, 2023;Perry et al, 2012). Taken together, findings suggest that the links between maternal physiological responding and supportive parenting behaviors are still being explored, likely varying across developmental timepoints and environmental contexts.…”

“…Traditional quantifications of RSA functioning in mothers typically center around difference scores, namely, RSA suppression (Hale et al, 2023;Shaffer et al, 2018). RSA suppression is the difference between a person's average RSA at rest and their average RSA during a stress or social interaction task.…”