Physiological linkage and affective dynamics in dyadic interactions between adolescents and their mothers

McKillop, Hannah; Connell, Arin M.

doi:10.1002/dev.21630

Cited by 41 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Although no differences in physiological synchrony were observed as a function of the child's sex in the current study, some research has reported different patterns of RSA in mothers interacting with daughters relative to mothers interacting with sons (McKillop & Connell, 2018). Furthermore, although the present study did not examine how children's overall levels of RSA were associated with their prosocial empathy, some research has found that such associations are moderated by sex, with associations in opposite directions for boys relative to girls (Eisenberg, Fabes, Karbon, et al, 1996).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionscontrasting

confidence: 91%

“…In that study, dyads with no history of maternal depression evidenced positive physiological synchrony during a negative discussion task, whereas dyads in which the mother did have a history of major depression showed negative physiological synchrony. Somewhat similar findings were observed in a study of adolescents (ages 11 to 17), which found evidence of positive timelagged physiological synchrony (over 15-s segments) across a positive and negative discussion task among dyads with no maternal history of depression, and attenuated synchrony among dyads with a history of maternal depression (McKillop & Connell, 2018).…”

Section: Phys Iolog Ic Al Syn Chronysupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Results from the current study found no correlations among dyadic synchrony measures across the three conditions examined, indicating that synchrony is not a trait-like characteristic of a dyad independent of measurement context. Third, whereas previous studies have examined whether synchrony differs among dyads as a function of parental (McKillop & Connell, 2018;Suveg et al, 2019;Woody et al, 2016) or child (Suveg et al, 2019;Woltering et al, 2015) psychopathology, the current study attempted to examine more nuanced implications of dyadic synchrony by considering the parental traits as a contextual moderator rather than a dictator of synchrony. Results from the current study did not find evidence that parental emotional acceptance was systematically associated with patterns of synchrony, and profiles of moderate to strong levels of synchrony were evident in both the positive and negative directions.…”

Section: Physiological Synchrony and Empathic Experiencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

When you go low, I go high: Negative coordination of physiological synchrony among parents and children

Creavy

Gatzke‐Kopp

Zhang

et al. 2019

Developmental Psychobiology

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The parent–child relationship is an important context for children's emotional development. The current study assessed 43 parent–child dyads while watching a positive film clip and a negative film clip, in order to examine whether partner's physiological reactivity demonstrated dyadic synchrony, and whether this was associated with children's prosocial empathy. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was measured in both caretakers and children (ages 9–14) and a continuous time series was estimated in order to maximize temporal resolution of physiological dynamics. Dyads varied in both the magnitude and direction of synchrony, with correlation coefficients ranging from moderately negative; r = −.44 (increases in one partner correspond to decreases in the other), to moderately positive; r = .55 (increases in one partner correspond to increases in the other). For both conditions, negative synchrony was correlated with higher child‐reported empathy. For the negative mood condition, this effect was moderated by caretaker's emotional acceptance such that positive synchrony was associated with lower levels of empathy among dyads in which caretaker emotional acceptance was lower. These results suggest that positive physiological synchrony during a negative mood condition may not be adaptive for children when their caretaker lacks the skills to appropriately socialize their child's emotional development.

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionscontrasting

confidence: 91%

Section: Phys Iolog Ic Al Syn Chronysupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Physiological Synchrony and Empathic Experiencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

When you go low, I go high: Negative coordination of physiological synchrony among parents and children

Creavy

Gatzke‐Kopp

Zhang

et al. 2019

Developmental Psychobiology

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show abstract

“…In contrast, dyads with clinically depressed adolescents showed significant within‐person concordance whereby their physiological and behavioral responses became simultaneously dysregulated. In both preadolescent–mother and adolescent–mother dyads, maternal depressive symptoms are associated with disrupted RSA synchrony during conflictual discussions (Mckillop & Connell, ; Woody, Feurer, Sosoo, Hastings, & Gibb, ). Mothers experiencing greater depressive symptoms also show greater stability in RSA (Amole, Cyranowski, Wright, & Swartz, ; Mckillop & Connell, ) and negative emotion expressions (Connell, McKillop, Patton, Klostermann, & Hughes‐Scalise, ) during such discussions with adolescents, which suggests low physiological and emotional preparedness to respond to environmental or social stressors.…”

Section: Review Of Parent–adolescent Dyads As Temporal Interpersonal mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whether or not physiological synchrony reflects adaptive interpersonal processes depends on several factors including the domain of physiological responding and context (Timmons, Margolin, & Saxbe, 2015). Although RSA synchrony may be a feature of conflict dynamics in nondepressed parent-adolescent dyads (Mckillop & Connell, 2018;Woody et al, 2016), concordance of cortisol slopes indicating heightened stress in day-to-day life is a feature of dyads at risk for depression (LeMoult, Chen, Foland-Ross, Burley, & Gotlib, 2015). Specifically, dyads at risk for depression show elevated cortisol responses throughout the day compared to dyads not at risk and also show greater synchrony.…”

Section: Emotion Dynamics and Psychosocial Adjustment (Paths C1 And C2)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Parent–Adolescent Dyads as Temporal Interpersonal Emotion Systems

Lougheed

2019

J of Research on Adolesc

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Research on the role of parent–adolescent relationships in psychosocial adjustment needs a conceptual approach that specifies the processes by which development is nested in the relationship. I forward a new approach and emphasize the need to consider the unique elements that individuals bring to the dyadic system. I also emphasize the need to examine processes at multiple time scales. I highlight the complexity of dyadic system dynamics: Biological predispositions set the foundation for the parent–adolescent relationship and the emotion dynamics that emerge during interactions. As the system gets entrained through repeated interactions over longer time scales, real‐time dynamics coalesce into psychosocial adjustment, which in turn constrains real‐time dynamics. I review the evidence for each of these processes and discuss the implications.

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Synchrony of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia in Parents and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Moderation by Interaction Quality and Child Behavior Problems

et al. 2020

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Parent–child physiological synchrony, the matching of physiological states between parents and children, is theorized to be important for typically developing (TD) children, but less is known about this process in families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In a sample of 29 children (M age = 8.00 years, SD = 1.51 years) with ASD and 39 TD‐matched children (M age = 7.32 years, SD = 1.36 years) and their primary caregivers (n = 68), we examined whether parent–child dyads showed physiological synchrony indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during an interaction, and whether RSA synchrony differed by parent–child interaction quality and child behavior problems. Results indicated that dyads with TD children showed stronger positive RSA synchrony than dyads with children with ASD. Furthermore, for families of children with ASD, RSA synchrony was stronger in families with higher interaction quality and fewer child internalizing problems. These results provide preliminary evidence of parent–child RSA synchrony in families of children with ASD and identify factors that may influence this physiological process. Implications of these findings for social and emotional development in children with ASD are discussed. Lay Summary Parents and children can get “in tune” with one another at the biological level – a process called physiological synchrony. We studied physiological synchrony in families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in comparison to same‐aged children who had no mental health disorders. We also examined how physiological synchrony might be associated with parent–child interaction quality and child behavior problems. We found that families with a child with ASD showed weaker physiological synchrony than families with a child who was typically developing. Further, we found that physiological synchrony was stronger when parents and children with ASD showed higher interaction quality and when children with ASD had lower internalizing problems. These findings contribute to our understanding of family functioning in the context of ASD and have potential implications for future work.

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Physiological linkage and affective dynamics in dyadic interactions between adolescents and their mothers

Cited by 41 publications

References 47 publications

When you go low, I go high: Negative coordination of physiological synchrony among parents and children

When you go low, I go high: Negative coordination of physiological synchrony among parents and children

Parent–Adolescent Dyads as Temporal Interpersonal Emotion Systems

Synchrony of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia in Parents and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Moderation by Interaction Quality and Child Behavior Problems

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