Reduced caregiving quality measured during the strange situation procedure increases child’s autonomic nervous system stress response

Abstract

BackgroundDysfunctional maternal behavior has been shown to lead to disturbances in infant’s regulatory capacities and alterations in vagal reactivity. We aim to investigate the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response of the child during the strange situation procedure (SSP) in relation to the quality of maternal behavior.MethodsTwelve month after birth, 163 mother–child-dyads were investigated during the SSP. Heart rate (HR) and both, the parasympathetic branch (PNS) via the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and the sympathetic branch (SNS) via the left ventricular ejection time (LVET) of the ANS were continuously determined during the SSP using electrocardiogram (ECG) and impedance cardiogram (ICG) measures. Maternal behavior was assessed by using the AMBIANCE measure.ResultsThe ANS response in infants of mothers with disruptive behavior compared to infants of non-disruptive mothers was significantly altered during the SSP: HR increased especially when infants of disruptive mothers were alone with the stranger (F (1, 161) = 4.15, p = .04) with a significant vagal withdrawal when being in contact with the stranger despite of presence of the mother (F (1, 161) = 5.11, p = .03) and a significant increase in vagal tone during final reunion (F (1, 161) = 3.76, p = .05). HR increase was mainly based on a decrease in LVET (F (1, 161) = 4.08, p = .05) with a maximum infant’s HR when the stranger came into the room instead of the mother.ConclusionBoth, SNS and PNS branches of the child are significantly altered in terms of an ANS imbalance, especially during contract to a stranger, in relation to dysfunctional maternal behavior. Our findings suggest the importance of supporting high quality caregiving that enables the infant to adapt adequately to stressful interpersonal situations which is likely to promote later health.

Maternal Sensitivity Modulates Child’s Parasympathetic Mode and Buffers Sympathetic Activity in a Free Play Situation

“…Our results show that children of insensitive mothers had lower overall RSA scores, indicating lower PNS activity and difficulties in maintaining the homeostatic state. This result is consistent with current literature ( Moore, 2010 ; Enlow et al, 2014 ; Johnson et al, 2017 ; Köhler-Dauner et al, 2019 ), which indicate that higher quality of maternal caregiving helps children to regulate their homeostasis and therefore regulate themselves effectively. In particular, children with low RSA levels are later particularly affected by the effects of sensitive parenting: for example, a positive association between sensitive parenting in various play tasks and executive functions in preschool was found only among children who had low RSA scores ( Gueron-Sela et al, 2017 ).…”

“…It can be noted that LVET may serve as a good parameter to distinguish children of sensitive vs. insensitive mothers. Building on this, Köhler-Dauner et al (2019) found that LVET shortened significantly with increasing disruptive behavior of the mother. We could speculate that the mother’s lower interaction quality may be less effective in engaging with the child from E1 on, which is reflected by the consistently low level of children’s LVET.…”

“…The main aim was to identify mechanisms of stress resilience and processes in the transgenerational transmission of CM on different levels: psychological, biological, and social. Because this is a longitudinal study, data from this study have been analyzed with respect to ANS activity in previous articles: These are Roder et al (2020) and Köhler-Dauner et al (2019) .…”

Mothers’ Attachment Representations and Children’s Brain Structure

“…Thus, maternal secure base script knowledge may be particularly important for the development of neural circuits involved in stress reactivity and self-regulation. This aligns with the theory that the extent to which sensitive caregivers can co-regulate children’s distress shapes amygdala development ( Callaghan and Tottenham, 2016a ) and children’s physiological responses to stressful situations ( Köhler-Dauner et al, 2019 ), and with research linking negative parenting to accelerated maturation and larger amygdala volume on the one hand ( Tottenham et al, 2010 ) and positive parenting to smaller amygdala volume on the other hand ( Whittle et al, 2014 ; Rifkin-Graboi et al, 2015 ). Together, findings suggest that the full spectrum of parenting experiences—not only adversity but also normative variation in parental characteristics—merit attention to understand ways in which the social environment is reflected in brain structure ( Belsky and de Haan, 2011 ; Farber et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Mothers’ secure base script knowledge involves a schema for the effective co-regulation of distress and protection from potential threats in the child’s environment ( Waters and Waters, 2006 ). Children’s experiences of sensitive care to help manage distress, particularly in times of threat, help them learn to self-regulate ( Hofer, 1995 ; Luecken and Lemery, 2004 ; Köhler-Dauner et al, 2019 ). Indeed, the function of a secure base is to protect children from threat ( Bowlby, 1969/1982 ), and experiences of secure base provision (guided by mothers’ scripts) may be especially important for the development of neurobiological systems involved in threat responding, including the amygdala ( Cassidy et al, 2013 ).…”