Mother‐preschooler RSA synchrony and self‐regulation as antecedents of developmental psychopathology in early childhood

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21344934
AutoresLongfeng Li (0000-0002-7562-4550, Department of Psychology The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA, autor de correspondencia), Sara Such (0000-0002-2208-8416, Department of Psychology The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA), Erika Lunkenheimer (0000-0002-6423-256X, Department of Psychology The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA)
Año2025
Volumen66
Número11
Páginas1724-1735
Fecha de publicación2025-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0021-9630 • E-ISSN: 1469-7610
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jcpp.70001
PMID40566797
OpenAlexW4411664959
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas51

BACKGROUND: We examined whether mother-preschooler respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony and self-regulation, as potential biological antecedents of developmental psychopathology, interacted to shape children's later behavior problems directly and indirectly via harsh parenting. METHODS: Mother-preschooler dyads (N = 135; 53% female) were oversampled for familial risk. Mother-rated harsh parenting and child behavior problems at ages 3 and 4 years were modeled as latent change scores across ages. Age 3 mother-child RSA synchrony was estimated with multilevel modeling as the concurrent effects of maternal RSA on child RSA during a challenging parent-child task. Age 3 child and maternal RSA self-regulation were measured as mean RSA during a resting task. RESULTS: More positive RSA synchrony with children with stronger individual RSA self-regulation predicted greater decreases in harsh parenting. In contrast, more positive RSA synchrony with children with weaker RSA self-regulation predicted greater increases in harsh parenting. In turn, greater increases in harsh parenting were related to greater increases in children's externalizing problems. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates that individual differences in RSA self-regulation influence how parent-child RSA synchrony shapes developmental psychopathology over time and adds to prior research showing that parent-child coregulation patterns may be adaptive or maladaptive depending on the protective or risk-related qualities of the corresponding persons or context

Child psychopathology · Context (archaeology) · Developmental psychology · Developmental psychopathology · Heart rate variability · Psychopathology · Vagal tone · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Respiratory and Cough-Related Research