ArticlePublisher preview available

Parenting Behaviors, Parent Heart Rate Variability, and Their Associations with Adolescent Heart Rate Variability

Authors:
Rebecca Graham at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Rebecca Graham
Brandon Scott at Montana State University
Brandon Scott
Carl F Weems at Iowa State University
Carl F Weems
Read publisher preview
Download citation
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract and Figures

Adolescence is a potentially important time in the development of emotion regulation and parenting behaviors may play a role. We examined associations among parenting behaviors, parent resting heart rate variability, adolescent resting heart rate variability and parenting behaviors as moderators of the association between parent and adolescent resting heart rate variability. Ninety-seven youth (11–17 years; 49.5 % female; 34 % African American, 37.1 % Euro-American, 22.6 % other/mixed ethnic background, and 7.2 % Hispanic) and their parents (n = 81) completed a physiological assessment and questionnaires assessing parenting behaviors. Inconsistent discipline and corporal punishment were negatively associated with adolescent resting heart rate variability, while positive parenting and parental involvement were positively associated. Inconsistent discipline and parental involvement moderated the relationship between parent and adolescent resting heart rate variability. The findings provide evidence for a role of parenting behaviors in shaping the development of adolescent resting heart rate variability with inconsistent discipline and parental involvement potentially influencing the entrainment of resting heart rate variability in parents and their children.
Figures - available from: Journal of Youth and Adolescence
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
A preview of this full-text is provided by Springer Nature.
Learn more
Content available from Journal of Youth and Adolescence
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
J Youth Adolescence (2017) 46:1089–1103
DOI 10.1007/s10964-016-0616-x
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Parenting Behaviors, Parent Heart Rate Variability, and Their
Associations with Adolescent Heart Rate Variability
Rebecca A. Graham
1
●Brandon G. Scott
2
●Carl F. Weems
3
Received: 8 November 2016 / Accepted: 18 November 2016 / Published online: 30 November 2016
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Adolescence is a potentially important time in
the development of emotion regulation and parenting
behaviors may play a role. We examined associations
among parenting behaviors, parent resting heart rate varia-
bility, adolescent resting heart rate variability and parenting
behaviors as moderators of the association between parent
and adolescent resting heart rate variability. Ninety-seven
youth (11–17 years; 49.5 % female; 34 % African Amer-
ican, 37.1 % Euro-American, 22.6 % other/mixed ethnic
background, and 7.2 % Hispanic) and their parents (n=81)
completed a physiological assessment and questionnaires
assessing parenting behaviors. Inconsistent discipline and
corporal punishment were negatively associated with ado-
lescent resting heart rate variability, while positive parent-
ing and parental involvement were positively associated.
Inconsistent discipline and parental involvement moderated
the relationship between parent and adolescent resting heart
rate variability. The findings provide evidence for a role of
parenting behaviors in shaping the development of adoles-
cent resting heart rate variability with inconsistent discipline
and parental involvement potentially influencing the
entrainment of resting heart rate variability in parents and
their children.
Keywords Emotion regulation ●Heart rate variability ●
Parenting
Introduction
Previous research has shown effective emotion regulation is
associated with adaptive social functioning and positive
psychological adjustment (Eisenberg et al. 2000; Izard et al.
2001; McDowell et al. 2002), while emotional dysregula-
tion is associated with maladaptive outcomes in youth,
including greater risk of developing internalizing and
externalizing disorders (Southam-Gerow and Kendall 2002;
Weems et al. 2005; Yap et al. 2007). Thus, learning how to
regulate one’s emotions is an important skill to acquire
across childhood and adolescence (Eisenberg and Fabes
1992). Research suggests that parents may influence chil-
dren’s development of emotion regulation biologically (e.g.,
inheritance of parents’patterns of physiological functioning
or via parent-child synchrony) and socially (e.g., shaping
emotion regulation through parenting behaviors; Calkins
1994; Eisenberg and Fabes 1994; Kupper et al. 2004;
Morris et al. 2007). However, the role that parents play in
emotion regulation development in adolescence is under-
studied, which is a time when higher-order processes
involved in control over emotion are shaped by external
factors and parents are adjusting their own behaviors to
handle the adolescent’s struggle for emotional autonomy
(Steinberg and Morris 2001; Yap et al. 2007). Therefore, the
purpose of the present study was twofold in that we wanted
to (1) examine parent-adolescent relations of a physiologi-
cal index of emotion regulation (i.e., resting heart rate
variability) and explore potential moderating effects of
*Rebecca A. Graham
rgrah4@lsuhsc.edu
1
Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University Health
Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
2
Department of Psychology, Montana State University, Bozeman,
MT 59717, USA
3
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa
State University, Ames, IA 50011-4380, USA
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Parenting behaviors such as warmth and hostility have been linked to adaptive RSA functioning, that is, RSA that supports positive emotion regulation processes and outcomes (Alen et al. 2022;Bell et al. 2018;Graham, Scott, and Weems 2017). However, This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. ...
... The more limited research on associations between parental socialization and adolescents' RSA has been inconsistent. For example, whereas Hastings et al. (2014) found no significant associations between supportive or punitive parenting and basal RSA in a predominantly European American sample of 11-to 16-year olds, Graham, Scott, and Weems (2017) found greater parentreported positive parenting (e.g., praise) and involvement (e.g., help with homework) to be associated with higher resting HRV in a majority ethnically/racially minoritized sample of adolescents. In a recent meta-analysis, Alen et al. (2022) revealed overall nonsignificant associations between parenting and children's and adolescents' basal HRV measures, but this was moderated by study design and sample characteristics. ...
... The Johnson et al. (2017), Katz et al. (2020), and Graham, Scott, and Weems (2017) studies are notable for their examinations of PNS activity in ethnically/racially diverse samples, which are underrepresented in developmental psychophysiology research (Hastings, Guyer, and Parra 2022). To our knowledge, as of yet, there have been no studies focused on parenting and PNS activity in Mexican-origin adolescents. ...
Warm Parenting Throughout Adolescence Predicts Basal Parasympathetic Activity Among Mexican‐Origin Youths
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2024
  • DEV PSYCHOBIOL
Parenting that is warm and supportive has been consistently linked to better emotion regulation in children, but less is known about this association in adolescents. Adolescence is thought to be an important period for emotion regulation development given that it coincides with the emergence of mental health issues. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is a measure of parasympathetic regulation linked to emotion and behavior regulation. Despite the well‐documented links between parenting practices and emotion regulation, and between RSA and emotion regulation, few studies have focused on the association between positive parenting and adolescent RSA or included both mothers and fathers. The current study analyzed the influence of warm parenting throughout adolescence (ages 10–16) on basal RSA at age 17 in 229 Mexican‐origin youths. Latent‐growth curve models were used to analyze associations between maternal and paternal warmth and baseline RSA. Changes in maternal, but not paternal, warmth from age 10 to 16 were related to youths’ basal RSA at age 17. Specifically, youths who perceived increasing (or less decreasing) maternal warmth across adolescence had higher basal RSA. This finding suggests that positive maternal parenting experiences during adolescence “get under the skin” to enhance parasympathetic functioning that supports youths’ emotion regulation capacities.
View
... Parenting behaviors carry wide-ranging implications for the biopsychosocial development of children, including their socioemotional development, self-regulation, and mental health problems (i.e., internalizing disorders; Anthony et al., 2005;Gorostiaga et al., 2019;Lobo & Lunkenheimer, 2020;Zubizarreta et al., 2019). Many researchers have examined how positive and harsh parenting behaviors are associated with maternal physiology, as measured by either self-report questionnaires or "gold-standard" laboratory heart rate, sleep, and physical activity instruments (e.g., Graham et al., 2017;Gregory et al., 2012;McQuillan et al., 2019). However, prior literature has been critiqued for the ecological validity of laboratory-based physiology collection (Shiffman et al., 2008). ...
... Previous literature has focused on the interplay between physiology and parenting. Much attention has been dedicated to understanding the impact of heart rate, sleep, and physical activity on parentchild interactions as variation in physiology is associated with parent-child outcomes (Cai et al., 2022;Graham et al., 2017;Slomian et al., 2019) Heart Rate and Parenting Much research has focused on the role of heart rate in mother-child parenting interactions (Graham et al., 2017;Mills-Koonce et al., 2007;Skowron et al., 2013;Wells et al., 2020;Zhang et al., 2017). Heart rate variability (HRV; characterized by variability in the duration between heart beats) is positively associated with positive parenting practices such as maternal sensitivity and is negatively associated with harsh parenting practices such as punishment (Giuliano et al., 2015;Graham et al., 2017;Zhang et al., 2017). ...
... Previous literature has focused on the interplay between physiology and parenting. Much attention has been dedicated to understanding the impact of heart rate, sleep, and physical activity on parentchild interactions as variation in physiology is associated with parent-child outcomes (Cai et al., 2022;Graham et al., 2017;Slomian et al., 2019) Heart Rate and Parenting Much research has focused on the role of heart rate in mother-child parenting interactions (Graham et al., 2017;Mills-Koonce et al., 2007;Skowron et al., 2013;Wells et al., 2020;Zhang et al., 2017). Heart rate variability (HRV; characterized by variability in the duration between heart beats) is positively associated with positive parenting practices such as maternal sensitivity and is negatively associated with harsh parenting practices such as punishment (Giuliano et al., 2015;Graham et al., 2017;Zhang et al., 2017). ...
Smartwatch Photoplethysmography Heart Rate Measures Are Associated With Parenting Behaviors in Mothers With Elevated Mental Health Symptoms
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2024
Positive and harsh parenting behaviors are implicated in the biopsychosocial development of children. Additionally, maternal parenting behaviors are linked to maternal physiology. Given these associations, the current study explores the link between maternal physiology and parenting behaviors through the novel use of wearable technology in a population of mothers experiencing elevated mental health concerns. This application of wearable technology allowed participants to stay in their natural environment without demand characteristics while data collection occurred. We hypothesized that maternal heart rate, sleep duration, and physical activity derived from wearable technology would be associated with self-report measures of parenting stress, overreactive discipline styles, and supportive parenting behaviors. Using physiological data and self-report measures from 66 maternal participants, linear regressions suggest that heart rate is associated with parenting stress, parental overreactivity, and supportive parenting behaviors. Results extend laboratory findings to a real-world context and speak to the potential of wearable technology in future family and parenting psychological research.
View
... Price-Evans and Field (2008) found that a neglectful maternal parenting style perceived by the children was associated with low heart rate in children. Graham et al. (2017) reported that positive parenting behaviors such as warmth and parental involvement were linked to the development of higher resting heart rate variability 1 (generally associated with low heart rate), whereas lower resting heart rate variability (linked to high heart rate) was observed in a negative, threatening, and unpredictable emotional climate to which negative parenting may contribute. Conversely, a review report by Propper and Holochwost (2013) indicated that exposure to disruptive parenting during infancy and preschool years might lead to a higher heart rate in children. ...
... Similarly, Fagan et al. (2017) showed that low RHR mediated the relationship between social adversity and antisocial behaviors in boys, but not in girls, among 340 7-to 10-year-old children from community. Graham et al. (2017) found that low baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (i.e., the changes in heart rate during respiration, caused by differences in activity of efferent nerves beginning in the 1 Heart rate variability, an index of neurocardiac function, roots in the interaction of the heart and the brain and the dynamic processes of the autonomic nervous system, and refers to the oscillation in the time interval between heartbeats. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology 1 3 vagal nerve complex projecting to the heart) was linked to the highest externalizing behaviors when authoritative style of caregivers was at a low level or when mother's authoritarian parenting was at a high level. ...
... Indeed, the underlying mechanism between family risk factors and biological functions remains unclear, although there is some evidence suggesting that social adversity, particularly parental risk factors, gives rise to a higher degree of biological risk factor concerning heart rate (Choy et al., 2015). In this regard, Elzinga et al. (2008) reported that children having experienced adverse childhood events showed greater level of blunted cortisol responses compared to those who had not, and several studies have linked parenting practices to physiological indexes of heart rate (Graham et al., 2017;Price-Evans, & Field, 2008). Long-term chronic exposure to stress could put a biological burden on individual physiological systems as a result of constant coping and adaptation, and these broad alternations to the biological profiles may lead to their difficulty in responding appropriately to stressors (Alink et al., 2019;Ellis & Del Giudice, 2019). ...
Resting Heart Rate Mediates the Relationship between Parenting Style and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Chinese Children
Article
  • Jun 2021
Despite increasing knowledge of social and biological risk factors for callous-unemotional (CU) traits, relatively less is known about how these two sets of risk factors combine to affect these traits. The current longitudinal study investigated pathways from parenting style to CU traits via resting heart rate in a three-year project. Parents of 382 children completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire at Time 1 (children Mean age = 9.06, SD = 0.94, range = 7-11 years), with the heart rate data collected at Time 2 (M = 10.16, SD = 0.93, range = 8-13 years) and CU traits assessed at Time 3 (M = 11.06，SD = 0.94, range = 9-13 years). We found that parenting style, CU traits were associated with resting heart rate, and that structural equation modeling showed resting heart rate to partially mediate the effect of parenting style on CU traits. Specifically, higher levels of authoritarian parenting were associated with lower resting heart rate, which in turn was linked to higher level of CU traits. On the contrary, children in the context of authoritative parenting showed relatively higher resting heart rate, which was predictive of lower CU traits. In gender group analyses, the RHR did not play a mediating role in the path from authoritarian parenting to CU traits. Overall, findings have implications for understanding the etiology of CU traits in children and developing effective prevention programs for children with affective deficits.
View
... For example, infants of mothers who warmly responded to their infant's communication cues had higher resting HF-HRV (Porter, 2003). In addition warmer parenting (e.g., high involvement, high support) has been shown to predict higher resting HF-HRV in adolescents (Graham, Scott, & Weems, 2017), and reduced decreases in resting HF-HRV over a one-year period (Fox, Aldrich, Ahles, & Mezulis, 2018). Experimental evidence from randomized controlled trials has also revealed associations between (1) increased sensitivity following parenting intervention and higher resting HF-HRV in preschoolers (Bell, Shader, Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Beauchaine, 2018), and (2) reductions in negative parenting following intervention and higher resting HF-HRV in 9-year olds (Tabachnik, Raby, Goldstein, Zajac, & Dozier, 2019). ...
... Consistent with our first hypothesis, we found that individuals who reported greater parental warmth during childhood exhibited higher HF-HRV during rest. This is consistent with previous research on parental warmth and HRV with infants and adolescents (Graham et al., 2017;Porter, 2003). In general, these results shed light on the potential influence of parenting on ANS physiology (Propper & Moore, 2006). ...
... The effect size was relatively small within our sample, compared to previous research in infants and adolescents (Graham et al., 2017;Porter, 2003). This may be attributed to a weakening association across development, as additional variables (e.g., health behavior, age) continue to influence ANS physiology into midlife. ...
Childhood Parental Warmth and Heart Rate Variability in Midlife: Implications for Health
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2020
The current study investigated high‐frequency heart rate variability (HF‐HRV) as a potential mediator between childhood parental warmth and later health and mortality outcomes. Participants were 1,255 adults (56.9% female). Childhood parental warmth was reported retrospectively at mean age 46; resting HF‐HRV was measured at mean age 57; cardiovascular health and self‐evaluated health were assessed at mean ages 57 and 63, and mortality records extracted at mean age 63. Results revealed a positive association between childhood parental warmth and resting HF‐HRV, as well as associations between higher HF‐HRV and reduced risk of having a later cardiovascular health problem and of mortality by age 63. Mediation analyses revealed a small significant indirect effect of parental warmth, through HF‐HRV, on cardiovascular health.
View
... The present findings add to an emerging body of research indicating physiological hyperreactivity as a moderator of the association between parental and youth psychological problems [6,58]. Specifically, parental depression symptoms were associated with more adolescent externalizing symptoms only for parents with higher SNS reactivity during the conflict task. ...
Parental Depression Symptoms, Skin Conductance Level Reactivity and Parenting: Associations with Youth Psychopathology
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2024
  • CHILD PSYCHIAT HUM D
Parental depression symptoms are a prevalent risk factor for internalizing and externalizing problems in youth, with parenting and parents’ physiological stress reactivity representing potential contributing factors in the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology symptoms. In a sample of adolescents (N = 97) and their parents, the current study examined parental depression symptoms, an observational measure of parenting, and parents’ physiological reactivity during a dyadic conflict discussion task in association with adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Parental depression symptoms and harsh/insensitive parenting showed positive associations with youth psychopathology symptoms. Further, parental depression symptoms were associated with greater externalizing symptoms in youth, specifically for parents with higher physiological reactivity during the conflict task. The present study highlights risks associated with parental depression and harsh/insensitive parenting, and provides evidence for parental physiological reactivity as a moderator of the association between parent and youth psychopathology. Clinical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.
View
... While the link between HRV and psychopathology, e.g., in post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, is well established (Beauchaine and Thayer, 2015), the discussion to which extent early life adversity, particularly careless or overprotective parenting, in particular, contribute to autonomic dysregulations or an overall lower HRV is still ongoing. For example, lower resting HRV was predicted by higher inconsistent discipline, corporal punishment, and lower parental involvement (Graham et al., 2017) and a blunted HR stress response is linked to the experience of early life adversity (Voellmin et al., 2015). ...
Nature-Based Relaxation Videos and Their Effect on Heart Rate Variability
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2022
Growing evidence suggests that natural environments – whether in outdoor or indoor settings – foster psychological health and physiological relaxation, indicated by increased wellbeing, reduced stress levels, and increased parasympathetic activity. Greater insight into differential psychological aspects modulating psychophysiological responses to nature-based relaxation videos could help understand modes of action and develop personalized relaxation interventions. We investigated heart rate variability (HRV) as an indicator of autonomic regulation, specifically parasympathetic activity, in response to a 10-min video intervention in two consecutive studies as well as heart rate (HR). We hypothesized that a nature-based relaxation video elicits HRV increase and HR decrease, with response magnitude being affected by aspects of early life adversity (conceptualized as low parental care and high overprotection/constraint) and trait mindfulness. In Study 1, N = 60 participants (52% female, agemean = 23.92 ± 3.13 years, agerange = 18–34 years) watched a relaxation video intervention depicting different natural scenery. We analyzed changes in HR and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as a standard HRV measure, both based on 3-min segments from the experimental session, in multiple growth curve models. We found a decrease in HR and increase of RSA during the video intervention. Higher paternal care and lower trait mindfulness observing skills (assessed via questionnaires) were associated with higher RSA values before but not during video exposure. In Study 2, N = 90 participants (50% female, agemean = 22.63 ± 4.57 years, agerange = 18–49 years) were assigned to three video conditions: natural scenery from Study 1, meditation video, or short clip from “The Lord of the Rings.” Again, HR decreased, and RSA increased during video segments, yet without expected group differences across different video types. We found higher parental care and lower parental overprotection to predict higher RSA at different times during the experiment. Interestingly, lower paternal overprotection predicted overall higher RSA. These results suggest a generic relaxation effect of video interventions on autonomic regulation that we discuss in light of different theories mapping restorative effects of natural environments. Further, psychological characteristics like aspects of early life adversity and trait mindfulness could contribute to individual differences in autonomic regulation. This study contributes to a better understanding of autonomic and psychological responses to relaxation videos.
View
... It has also been speculated that such impairments can contribute to "uncoupling" between experiential and physiological channels of emotion (e.g., Gunnar & Donzella, 2002;Repetti et al., 2002), but no studies to date have directly examined the links between childhood adversity and RSC. Similarly, early life stress and negative parenting practices have been linked to disruptions in the development and function of the parasympathetic nervous system prior to adulthood (e.g., Graham et al., 2017;Johnson et al., 2017). However, evidence for the longer-term associations between adverse childhood experiences and rVT has been inconsistent (e.g., Dale et al., 2018;Hagan et al., 2017). ...
Coherence Between Feelings and Heart Rate: Links to Early Adversity and Responses to Stress
Article
  • Jan 2021
Past research suggests that higher coherence between feelings and physiology under stress may confer regulatory advantages. Research and theory also suggest that higher resting vagal tone (rVT) may promote more adaptive responses to stress. The present study examines the roles of response system coherence (RSC; defined as the within-individual covariation between feelings and heart rate over time) and rVT in mediating the links between childhood adversity and later-life responses to acute stressors. Using data from 279 adults from the Second Generation Study of the Harvard Study of Adult Development who completed stressful public speaking and mental arithmetic tasks, we find that individuals who report more childhood adversity have lower RSC, but not lower rVT. We further find that lower RSC mediates the association between adversity and slower cardiovascular recovery. Higher rVT in the present study is linked to less intense cardiovascular reactivity to stress, but not to quicker recovery or to the subjective experience of negative affect after the stressful tasks. Additional analyses indicate links between RSC and mindfulness and replicate previous findings connecting RSC to emotion regulation and well-being outcomes. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the idea that uncoupling between physiological and emotional streams of affective experiences may be one of the mechanisms connecting early adversity to later-life affective responses. These findings also provide evidence that RSC and rVT are associated with distinct aspects of self-regulation under stress. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-020-00027-5.
View
Associations between the quality of family interactions during a mother–father–adolescent conflict discussion task and physiological emotion regulation in adolescents
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2025
Emotion regulation (ER) is a key competence in adolescence that is related to multiple psychological outcomes, including adaptive functioning and psychopathological symptoms. The development of ER skills is closely associated with a child’s family relational context. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated the physiological ER of adolescents during family interactions that go beyond the mother–adolescent dyad. Thus, little is understood regarding which features of communication in the mother–father–adolescent triad (e.g., warmth of affective exchanges) are relevant to adolescents’ physiological ER (as indexed by heart rate variability; HRV). The objective of this study was to explore the associations between the observed quality of triadic family interactions and adolescents’ physiological ER. This study investigated 77 mother–father–adolescent triads from the general population during a semi-standardized observational situation, the Lausanne Trilogue Play – Conflict Discussion Task (LTP–CDT). We assessed the quality of family interactions using an observational coding instrument, the Family Conflict and Alliance Assessment Scales – with adolescents (FCAAS), which includes scales on communicational aspects such as turn-taking, conflict resolution, affective climate, mentalization, and scales related to indicators of the coparenting relationship (e.g., coparenting support). We measured adolescents’ HRV before (baseline), during (reactivity), and after (recovery) the LTP–CDT by computing the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) between heartbeats as indices of adolescents’ physiological ER in each part of the procedure. Regression analyses showed significant associations between coparenting-related indicators (e.g., coparenting support) during mother–father–adolescent conflictual interactions and various measures of adolescents’ physiological ER capacities. These results highlight that family-level processes such as the coparenting relationship may be significant relational contexts for the socioemotional development of adolescents. The discussion encompasses research perspectives (e.g., extending our investigations to family triads involving a clinically referred member) and potential clinical implications (e.g., incorporating the coparenting unit into psychotherapy with adolescents).
View
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Parenting and Child Autonomic Nervous System Activity
Article
  • Jun 2022
  • NEUROSCI BIOBEHAV R
Parental socialization may influence the development of children’s autonomic nervous system (ANS), a key stress-response system. However, to date no quantitative synthesis of the literature linking parenting and child ANS physiology has been conducted. To address this gap, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis. A systematic review of the literature identified 103 studies (n = 13,044 participants) with available effect sizes describing the association between parenting and either parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity in children. The overall analysis revealed non-significant associations between parenting and child ANS physiology on average. However, moderation analyses revealed a positive association between more positive parenting and higher resting PNS activity that was stronger when a study was experimental rather than correlational, and when the sample included children with a clinical condition. In conclusion, well-controlled experimental studies show that positive parenting is associated with the development of higher resting PNS activity, an effect that may be stronger among children who are at elevated developmental risk.
View
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Parenting and Child Autonomic Nervous System Activity
Preprint
  • Jun 2022
Parental socialization may influence the development of children’s autonomic nervous system (ANS), a key stress-response system. However, to date no quantitative synthesis of the literature linking parenting and child ANS physiology has been conducted. To address this gap, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis. A systematic review of the literature identified 103 studies (n = 13,044 participants) with available effect sizes describing the association between parenting and either parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity in children. The overall analysis revealed non-significant associations between parenting and child ANS physiology on average. However, moderation analyses revealed a positive association between more positive parenting and higher resting PNS activity that was stronger when a study was experimental rather than correlational, and when the sample included children with a clinical condition. In conclusion, well-controlled experimental studies show that positive parenting is associated with the development of higher resting PNS activity, an effect that may be stronger among children who are at elevated developmental risk.
View
View
Biological Perspectives on Social Attachment and Bonding
Chapter
  • Nov 2005
Scientists from different disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, pediatrics, neurobiology, endocrinology, and molecular biology, explore the concepts of attachment and bonding from varying scientific perspectives. Attachment and bonding are evolved processes; the mechanisms that permit the development of selective social bonds are assumed to be very ancient, based on neural circuitry rooted deep in mammalian evolution, but the nature and timing of these processes and their ultimate and proximate causes are only beginning to be understood. In this Dahlem Workshop Report, scientists from different disciplines—including anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, and behavioral biology—come together to explore the concepts of attachment and bonding from diverse perspectives. In their studies they seek to understand the causes or the consequences of attachment and bonding in general and their different qualities in individual development in particular. They address such questions as biobehavioral processes in attachment and bonding; early social attachment and its influences on later patterns of behavior; bonding later in life; and adaptive and maladaptive (or pathological) outcomes. The studies confirm that social bonds have consequences for virtually all aspects of behavior and may be protective in the face of both physical and emotional challenges.
View
View
View
View
Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning
Article
  • Jan 2000
Individual differences in emotionality and regulation are central to conceptions of temperament and personality. In this article, conceptions of emotionality and regulation and ways in which they predict social functioning are examined. Linear (including additive) and nonlinear effects are reviewed. In addition, data on mediational and moderational relations from a longitudinal study are presented. The effects of attention regulation on social functioning were mediated by resiliency, and this relation was moderated by negative emotionality at the first, but not second, assessment. Negative emotionality moderated the relation of behavior regulation to socially appropriate/prosocial behavior. These results highlight the importance of examining different types of regulation and the ways in which dispositional characteristics interact in predicting social outcomes.
View
Mothers' emotional expressivity and children's behavior problems and social competence: Mediation through children's regulation
Article
  • Jul 2001
The relations between mothers' expressed positive and negative emotion and 55-79-month-olds' (76% European American) regulation, social competence, and adjustment were examined. Structural equation modeling was used to test the plausibility of the hypothesis that the effects of maternal expression of emotion on children's adjustment and social competence are mediated through children's dispositional regulation. Mothers' expressed emotions were assessed during interactions with their children and with maternal reports of emotions expressed in the family. Children's regulation, externalizing and internalizing problems, and social competence were rated by parents and teachers, and children's persistence was surreptitiously observed. There were unique effects of positive and negative maternal expressed emotion on children's regulation, and the relations of maternal expressed emotion to children's externalizing problem behaviors and social competence were mediated through children's regulation. Alternative models of causation were tested; a child-directed model in which maternal expressivity mediated the effects of child regulation on child outcomes did not fit the data as well.
View
View
View
Adolescents’ Perceptions of Parenting Behavior: Validation of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Adolescent Self Report
Article
  • Jan 2015
The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) is a well-validated instrument designed to assess parenting behaviors that may be associated with child conduct problems. The APQ’s original five factors were theoretically derived, encompassing positive parenting, corporal punishment, inconsistent discipline, parental involvement, and poor monitoring/supervision. To date several studies have used data-driven approaches in order to ascertain the factor structure of the child and parent report versions of the APQ, with three-, four-, and five-factor models proposed. The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the child report version of the APQ in a sample of 358 adolescents aged 11-18. Results of two separate factor analyses suggest four-factor solutions for mothers and fathers, though the factor titles and item content of these four factors differed between mothers and fathers. Follow-up individual item analyses reveal several strong correlations with child age, indicating that some APQ items may be inappropriate for an older adolescent sample. Implications of the differences in factor structures for mothers and fathers as well as strong age correlations are discussed.
View