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An event‐based analysis of maternal physiological reactivity following aversive child behaviors

An event‐based analysis of maternal physiological reactivity following aversive child behaviors Research investigating the association between parents' physiological reactivity and their ability to self‐regulate in parenting contexts typically examines the average physiological response across the duration of a dyadic task, conflating reactivity across a multitude of parent and child behaviors. The present study utilized a moving‐window analytical technique to generate a continuous, second × second time series of mothers' high‐frequency heart rate variability (HF‐HRV) to conduct an event‐based analysis of maternal reactivity in the 10 s following an aversive child event. Analyses examined whether maternal reactivity related to parenting behaviors similarly among maltreating (n = 48) and non‐maltreating (n = 29) mother‐preschooler dyads. Results indicate that maternal behavior was not associated with average HF‐HRV reactivity, but mothers who demonstrated an increase in HF‐HRV immediately following a negative child event were more likely to engage in behaviors to return the dyad to a positive state. Findings were specific to incidents of negative child behavior, and results were not moderated by maltreatment status. These results highlight the value of using an event‐based design to isolate reactivity in response to targeted events to understand how physiological reactivity supports parenting. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Psychophysiology Wiley

An event‐based analysis of maternal physiological reactivity following aversive child behaviors

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References (40)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 by the Society for Psychophysiological Research
ISSN
0048-5772
eISSN
1469-8986
DOI
10.1111/psyp.14093
Publisher site
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Abstract

Research investigating the association between parents' physiological reactivity and their ability to self‐regulate in parenting contexts typically examines the average physiological response across the duration of a dyadic task, conflating reactivity across a multitude of parent and child behaviors. The present study utilized a moving‐window analytical technique to generate a continuous, second × second time series of mothers' high‐frequency heart rate variability (HF‐HRV) to conduct an event‐based analysis of maternal reactivity in the 10 s following an aversive child event. Analyses examined whether maternal reactivity related to parenting behaviors similarly among maltreating (n = 48) and non‐maltreating (n = 29) mother‐preschooler dyads. Results indicate that maternal behavior was not associated with average HF‐HRV reactivity, but mothers who demonstrated an increase in HF‐HRV immediately following a negative child event were more likely to engage in behaviors to return the dyad to a positive state. Findings were specific to incidents of negative child behavior, and results were not moderated by maltreatment status. These results highlight the value of using an event‐based design to isolate reactivity in response to targeted events to understand how physiological reactivity supports parenting.

Journal

Psychophysiology – Wiley

Published: Nov 1, 2022

Keywords: heart rate variability; methods; parenting; self‐regulation; respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA reactivity

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