Physiological reactions of preschoolers to fear-inducing film clips: Effects of temperamental fearfulness and quality of the parent–child relationship

Connections between Parental Phubbing and Electronic Media Use in Young Children: The Mediating Role of Parent-Child Conflict and Moderating Effect of Child Emotion Regulation

In this digital age, where parental attention is often diverted by digital engagement, the phenomenon of "parental phubbing," defined as parents ignoring their children in favor of mobile devices, is scrutinized for its potential impact on child development. This study, utilizing questionnaire data from 612 parents and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with moderated mediation, examines the potential association between parental phubbing and young children's electronic media use. The findings revealed a correlation between parental phubbing and increased electronic media use in children. Parent-child conflict, informed by instances of parental phubbing, was identified as a partial mediator in this relation. Notably, children's emotion regulation emerged as a moderating factor, with adept regulation linked to reduced adverse effects of parental phubbing and improved relational harmony. These findings underscore the importance of parental awareness of their digital behaviors and the benefits of fostering robust parent-child relationships and supporting children's emotional regulation to nurture well-adjusted "digital citizens" in the contemporary media landscape.

Cognitive and emotional processing in tasks with emotional valence: Analysis of age and gender role on child development variations

Cognitive control consists of high-level cognitive processes regulating thoughts and actions during goal-directed behavior and problem-solving. This study analyzes the performance of 4- to 8-year-old children in Stroop-like and ToL tasks using stimuli with different emotional valence. Significant differences were found in the performance in the congruent block of the Stroop-like task, where 5-year-old children presented a higher performance in the neutral condition. Also, a significant difference was only found in the incongruent block (with higher demand for inhibition), which indicates that girls performed better than boys in both task conditions. Variations in the Stroop-like task performance were found in preschoolers but not in older children, especially in girls than in boys. Specifically, these variations were found between age groups with at least two years of difference. No statistically significant differences were found in performance nor planning time in ToL between the age and gender groups in any of the task conditions. The findings highlight the need to analyze the interaction between cognitive and emotional processing, individual differences, and task demands.

Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: A summary and overview of the literature

Considerable work has advanced understanding of the nature, causes, management, and prevention of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents over the past 30 years. Prior to this time the primary focus was on school refusal and specific phobias. It is now recognised that children and adolescents experience the full gamut of anxiety disorders in very similar ways to adults and that anxiety disorders in the paediatric years can predict a lifelong mental-health struggle. Given the vast array of specific studies in this field, the current review summarises current knowledge about these high prevalence disorders, points to overarching limitations, and suggests potentially important future directions. Following a brief historical overview, the review summarises knowledge about demographic and epidemiological characteristics, distal and proximal risk factors, current treatment directions, and prevention. There is still a great deal to learn about the causes and treatments of child and adolescent anxiety disorders. By amalgamating our current knowledge, this review provides a window to the research directions that are likely to lead to future advances.

The interplay between parenting and environmental sensitivity in the prediction of children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors during COVID-19

The interplay of parenting and environmental sensitivity on children's behavioral adjustment during, and immediately after, the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions was investigated in two longitudinal studies involving Italian preschoolers (Study 1, N = 72; 43% girls, Myears = 3.82(1.38)) and primary school children (Study 2, N = 94; 55% girls, Myears = 9.08(0.56)). Data were collected before and during the first-wave lockdown (Studies 1 and 2) and one month later (Study 1). Parental stress and parent-child closeness were measured. Markers of environmental sensitivity in children were temperamental fearfulness and Sensory Processing Sensitivity. Results showed little change in externalizing and internalizing behaviors over time, but differences emerged when considering parenting and children's environmental sensitivity. In preschoolers, greater parenting stress was related to a stronger increase in internalizing and externalizing behaviors, with children high in fearful temperament showing a more marked decrease in externalizing behaviors when parenting stress was low. In school-aged children, parent-child closeness emerged as a protective factor for internalizing and externalizing behaviors during COVID-19, with children high in Sensory Processing Sensitivity showing a marked decrease in internalizing behaviors when closeness was high. Implications for developmental theory and practice in times of pandemic are discussed.

A study of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and stuttering persistence

INTRODUCTION

The present study investigated potential differences in respiratory sinus arrhythmia between preschool-age children with persisting stuttering, children who recovered from stuttering, and children who do not stutter.

METHODS

Participants were 10 children with persisting stuttering (persisting group), 20 children who recovered from stuttering (recovered group), and 36 children who do not stutter (non-stuttering group). Participants viewed a neutral video clip to establish a pre-arousal baseline and then viewed two emotionally-arousing video clips (positive and negative, counterbalanced). Age-appropriate speaking tasks followed each of the video clips (post-baseline, post-positive, and post-negative). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic nervous system activity, was measured during the video clips and subsequent speaking tasks.

RESULTS

First, the persisting group, recovered group, and non-stuttering group did not significantly differ in baseline RSA. Second, during the emotionally-arousing video clips, there was a significant group x condition interaction, with the recovered group exhibiting significantly lower RSA in the positive than negative condition, and the non-stuttering group exhibiting significantly higher RSA in the positive than negative condition. Third, in the narrative tasks, there was a significant group x condition interaction, with a greater difference in RSA between the post-baseline speaking task and the post-positive and post-negative speaking tasks for the persisting compared to the non-stuttering group. Lastly, a follow-up analysis indicated that the recovered and nonstuttering groups, compared to the persisting group, exhibited significantly greater RSA during the baseline (neutral) condition compared to the post-neutral narrative task.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings provide a physiological perspective of emotion within children who stutter and persist and children who stutter and recover. Future investigations with larger sample sizes and diverse methodologies are necessary to provide novel insights on the specific emotion-related processes that are potentially involved with persistence of stuttering in young children.

Parent-child physiological concordance predicts stronger observational fear learning in children with a less secure relationship with their parent

Observational fear learning is common in children as they learn to fear by observing their parents. Although adaptive, it can also contribute to the development of fear-related psychopathologies such as anxiety disorders. Therefore, it is important to identify and study the factors that modulate children's sensitivity to observational fear learning. For instance, observational fear learning can be facilitated by the synchronization of biological systems between two people. In parent-child dyads, physiological concordance is important and varies according to the attachment relationship, among others. We investigated the joint effect of parent-child physiological concordance and attachment on observational fear learning in children. A total of 84 parent-child dyads participated in this study. Parents were filmed while exposed to a fear-conditioning protocol, where one stimulus was associated with a shock (CS+) and the other was not (CS-). This recording was then shown to the children (observational learning). Thereafter, both stimuli (CS+ and CS-) were presented to the children without any shock (direct expression test). For both the parent and child, skin conductance activity was recorded throughout the entire procedure. We measured physiological concordance between the parent's phasic skin conductance signal during conditioning and the child's signal during the observational learning stage. Children showing stronger concordance and a less secure relationship with their parent exhibited higher levels of fear to the CS+, as indicated by a heightened skin conductance response during the direct expression test. Thus, when children have an insecure relationship with their parent, strong physiological concordance may increase their sensitivity to observational fear learning.

"Katerina gets mad": Infants' physiological and behavioral responses to co-viewing educational, self-regulatory media

A growing body of research has focused on the physiological impact of media on older children and adolescents. Less research has been focused on the potential physiological impact of media on infants and younger children, especially media designed to be age appropriate and educational in content. In this study, we examined respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in infants (N = 269, M_age  = 17.13 months) while they co-viewed an educational video clip that modeled emotion regulation and contrasted their physiological response to an unoccupied baseline and a frustration paradigm (arm-restraint). Given parent reports showing the calming effect of educational media viewing in young children, we anticipated that a similar pattern of calming would be observed physiologically in infants. Results showed that relative to baseline, most infants demonstrated an increase in RSA while co-viewing, suggesting greater parasympathetic (regulatory) activation consistent with behavioral calming. However, infants who demonstrated vagal withdrawal during co-viewing (decrease in RSA) were more likely to have parents who used a tablet to help infants go to sleep at night. Vagal withdrawal was also associated with increased levels of negative affect observed during the co-viewing task. Findings are discussed in relation to the contextual effect of co-viewing age-appropriate, educational media on children's physiological responses.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between parenting and child autonomic nervous system activity

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.

Approach motivation and loneliness: Individual differences and parasympathetic activity

Loneliness, or perceived social isolation, is linked to a number of negative long‐term effects on both mental and physical health. However, how an individual responds to feeling lonely may influence their risk for later negative health outcomes. Here, we sought to clarify what influences variability in individuals' motivated responses to loneliness. Specifically, we assessed whether resting parasympathetic activity, a physiological marker linked to flexible adaptation, facilitates increased approach‐oriented behaviors. Seventy‐four adult participants underwent a conditioning paradigm assessing how they approach and avoid rewards and threats. Individuals with higher levels of loneliness and high resting parasympathetic activity were more likely to demonstrate approach behaviors. We discuss these findings in terms of the role resting parasympathetic activity may play in facilitating adaptive responses to feeling socially isolated.

How an individual responds to feeling lonely may influence their risk for later negative health outcomes. The current study provides new insight into what may influence variability in responses to feeling lonely. Individuals with higher resting parasympathetic activity and high levels of loneliness demonstrate increased approach‐oriented behaviors. This suggests loneliness increases approach motivations but only in the presence of other markers of adaptive responding, like high resting parasympathetic activity.

Resting autonomic activity in adults who stutter and its association with self-reports of social anxiety

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate resting autonomic activity in adults who stutter (AWS) compared to adults who do not stutter (ANS) and the relationship this has on self-reports of social anxiety.

METHODS

Thirteen AWS and 15 ANS completed the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clark, 1998) and Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE; Leary, 1983). Following this, measures of skin conductance levels (i.e. index of sympathetic activity) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (i.e. index of parasympathetic activity) were taken during a 5-minute resting, baseline period. Independent sample t tests were used to assess differences between groups on self-reports of anxiety (SIAS, BFNE) and resting autonomic levels (SCL, RSA). Separate multiple regression analyses were performed in order to assess the relationship between self-reports of anxiety and autonomic measures.

RESULTS

Results showed significantly higher mean SCL and lower mean RSA levels in the AWS compared to the ANS at resting, baseline. Regression analysis showed that self-reports from the SIAS had a significant effect on RSA levels for the AWS but not the ANS. No significant effects were found for BFNE on RSA. Nor was there a significant effect from SIAS or BFNE on SCL levels for either group.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that resting RSA levels may be a physiological marker for social anxiety levels in adults who stutter.

The centrality of temperament to the research domain criteria (RDoC): The earliest building blocks of psychopathology

The research domain criteria (RDoC) is an innovative approach designed to explore dimensions of human behavior. The aim of this approach is to move beyond the limits of psychiatric categories in the hope of aligning the identification of psychological health and dysfunction with clinical neuroscience. Despite its contributions to adult psychopathology research, RDoC undervalues ontogenetic development, which circumscribes our understanding of the etiologies, trajectories, and maintaining mechanisms of psychopathology risk. In this paper, we argue that integrating temperament research into the RDoC framework will advance our understanding of the mechanistic origins of psychopathology beginning in infancy. In illustrating this approach, we propose the incorporation of core principles of temperament theories into a new "life span considerations" subsection as one option for infusing development into the RDoC matrix. In doing so, researchers and clinicians may ultimately have the tools necessary to support emotional development and reduce a young child's likelihood of psychological dysfunction beginning in the first years of life.

Paternal expressed emotion influences psychobiological indicators of threat and safety learning in daughters: A preliminary study

This preliminary study examined the association of children's anxiety, paternal expressed emotion (EE), and their interaction with psychophysiological indices of children's threat and safety learning. Participants included 24 father-daughter dyads. Daughters (ages 8-13 years, 100% Latina) self-reported their anxiety levels and completed a differential threat conditioning and extinction paradigm, during which psychophysiological responding was collected. Fathers completed a Five-Minute Speech Sample, from which paternal EE (i.e., criticism, emotional overinvolvement) was assessed. Anxiety-dependent associations emerged between paternal EE and individual differences in daughters' psychophysiological responding to safety signals during threat conditioning. Paternal EE was positively associated with psychophysiological responding to safety in daughters with high and mean, but not low, levels of anxiety. Although previous work suggests that chronic harsh maternal parenting is a potential risk factor for children's general threat and safety learning, these preliminary findings implicate milder forms of negative parenting behavior in fathers, particularly for highly anxious children.

Physiological measurement of emotion from infancy to preschool: A systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Emotion regulation, the ability to regulate emotional responses to environmental stimuli, develops in the first years of life and plays an important role in the development of personality, social competence, and behavior. Substantial literature suggests a relationship between emotion regulation and cardiac physiology; specifically, heart rate changes in response to positive or negative emotion-eliciting stimuli.

METHOD

This systematic review and meta-analysis provide an in-depth examination of research that has measured physiological responding during emotional-evoking tasks in children from birth to 4 years of age.

RESULTS

The review had three main findings. First, meta-regressions resulted in an age-related decrease in baseline and task-related heart rate (HR) and increases in baseline and task-related respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Second, meta-analyses suggest task-related increases in HR and decreases in RSA and heart rate variability (HRV), regardless of emotional valence of the task. Third, associations between physiological responding and observed behavioral regulation are not consistently present in children aged 4 and younger. The review also provides a summary of the various methodology used to measure physiological reactions to emotional-evoking tasks, including number of sensors used and placement, various baseline and emotional-evoking tasks used, methods for extracting RSA, as well as percentage of loss and reasons for loss for each study.

CONCLUSION

Characterizing the physiological reactivity of typically developing children is important to understanding the role emotional regulation plays in typical and atypical development.

Addressing educational inequalities and promoting learning through studies of stress physiology in elementary school students

To be ready to learn, children need to be focused, engaged, and able to bounce back from setbacks. However, many children come to school with heightened or diminished physiological arousal due to exposure to poverty-related risks. While stress physiology plays a role in explaining how adversity relates to processes that support students' cognitive development, there is a lack of studies of physiological stress response in educational settings. This review integrates relevant studies and offers future directions for research on the role of stress physiology in the school adaptation of elementary school students, focusing on these important questions: (a) What are the links between physiological stress response and learning-related skills and behaviors, and do they vary as a function of proximal and distal experiences outside of school? (b) How are school experiences associated with students' physiological stress response and related cognitive and behavioral adaptations? (c) How can we leverage measures of students' physiological stress response in evaluations of school-based interventions to better support the school success of every student? We hope to stimulate a new wave of research that will advance the science of developmental stress physiology, as well as improve the application of these findings in educational policy and practice.

Anxiety Sensitivity Moderates the Association Between Father-Child Relationship Security and Fear Transmission

Observational fear learning can contribute to the development of fear-related psychopathologies, such as anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. Observational fear learning is especially relevant during childhood. Parent-child attachment and anxiety sensitivity modulate fear reactions and fear learning but their impact on observational fear learning has not been investigated. This study investigated how these factors contribute to observational fear learning in children. We examined this question among 55 healthy parent-child dyads. Children (8–12 years old) watched a video of their parent undergoing a direct fear conditioning protocol, where one stimulus (CS+Parent) was paired with a shock and one was not (CS−), and a video of a stranger for whom a different stimulus was reinforced (CS+Stranger). Subsequently, all stimuli were presented to children (without shocks) while skin conductance responses were recorded to evaluate fear levels. Our results showed that children more sensitive to anxiety and who had lower father-child relationship security levels exhibited higher skin conductance responses to the CS+Parent. Our data suggest that the father-child relationship security influences vicarious fear transmission in children who are more sensitive to anxiety. This highlights the importance of the father-child relationship security as a potential modulator of children’s vulnerability to fear-related psychopathologies.

Effects of Social Stress on Autonomic, Behavioral, and Acoustic Parameters in Adults Who Stutter

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess changes in autonomic, behavioral, and acoustic measures in response to social stress in adults who stutter (AWS) compared to adults who do not stutter (ANS). Method Participants completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory ( Speilberger, Gorsuch, Luschene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983 ). In order to provoke social stress, participants were required to complete a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-M, Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993 ), which included completing a nonword reading task and then preparing and delivering a speech to what was perceived as a group of professionals trained in public speaking. Autonomic nervous system changes were assessed by measuring skin conductance levels, heart rate, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Behavioral changes during speech production were measured in errors, percentage of syllable stuttered, percentage of other disfluencies, and speaking rate. Acoustic changes were measured using 2nd formant frequency fluctuations. In order to make comparisons of speech with and without social-cognitive stress, measurements were collected while participants completed a speaking task before and during TSST-M conditions. Results AWS showed significantly higher levels of self-reported state and trait anxiety compared to ANS. Autonomic nervous system changes revealed similar skin conductance level and heart rate across pre-TSST-M and TSST-M conditions; however, RSA levels were significantly higher in AWS compared to ANS across conditions. There were no differences found between groups for speaking rate, fundamental frequency, and percentage of other disfluencies when speaking with or without social stress. However, acoustic analysis revealed higher levels of 2nd formant frequency fluctuations in the AWS compared to the controls under pre-TSST-M conditions, followed by a decline to a level that resembled controls when speaking under the TSST-M condition. Discussion Results suggest that AWS, compared to ANS, engage higher levels of parasympathetic control (i.e., RSA) during speaking, regardless of stress level. Higher levels of self-reported state and trait anxiety support this view point and suggest that anxiety may have an indirect role on articulatory variability in AWS.

Effects of an attachment-based intervention in infancy on children's autonomic regulation during middle childhood

The present study used a longitudinal randomized clinical trial to test whether an early intervention has causal effects on children's autonomic nervous system regulation. When children were infants, parents involved with Child Protective Services received Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC; N = 43), an intervention that promotes sensitive parenting, or a control intervention (N = 53). When children were 9 years old, children whose parents had received ABC exhibited higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia and lower heart rate at rest and during a parent-child interaction than children in the control group. Intervention effects were not detected for children's average skin conductance levels or for indices of autonomic reactivity. Results suggest that a parenting-focused early intervention impacted the development of children's autonomic regulation.

A unifying conceptual framework of factors associated to cardiac vagal control

Cardiac vagal control (CVC) reflects the activity of the vagus nerve regulating cardiac functioning. CVC can be inferred via heart rate variability measurement, and it has been positively associated to a broad range of cognitive, emotional, social, and health outcomes. It could then be considered as an indicator for effective self-regulation, and given this role, one should understand the factors increasing and decreasing CVC. The aim of this paper is to review the broad range of factors influencing CVC, and to provide a unifying conceptual framework to integrate comprehensively those factors. The structure of the unifying conceptual framework is based on the theory of ecological rationality, while its functional aspects are based on the neurovisceral integration model. The structure of this framework distinguishes two broad areas of associations: person and environment, as this reflects adequately the role played by CVC regarding adaptation. The added value of this framework lies at different levels: theoretically, it allows integrating findings from a variety of scientific disciplines and refining the predictions of the neurovisceral integration model; methodologically, it helps identifying factors that increase and decrease CVC; and lastly at the applied level, it can play an important role for society regarding health policies and for the individual to empower one's flourishing.

Fractal dimension of EEG signals and heart dynamics in discrete emotional states

In this study, we explored the fractal dimension (FD; a measure of signal complexity) of 28 EEG channels with positive and negative emotional states. The EEG of participants and their ECG were registered while watching short video clips that induced fear, disgust, humour, or neutral emotions. In order to better understand the nature of these emotions, the Higuchi FD of EEG segments and the heart rate variability (HRV) of the ECG associated with each emotion were obtained. Our results exhibited similar patterns of results with both measures. Humour elicited the highest FD scores in most EEG channels and the highest HRV, while fear, among all emotions, produced the lowest scores in both measures. These results may contribute to the understanding of the relationship between cortical and heart dynamics and their role on emotion perception.

The effect of emotion on articulation rate in persistence and recovery of childhood stuttering

PURPOSE

This study investigated the possible association of emotional processes and articulation rate in pre-school age children who stutter and persist (persisting), children who stutter and recover (recovered) and children who do not stutter (nonstuttering).

METHODS

The participants were ten persisting, ten recovered, and ten nonstuttering children between the ages of 3-5 years; who were classified as persisting, recovered, or nonstuttering approximately 2-2.5 years after the experimental testing took place. The children were exposed to three emotionally-arousing video clips (baseline, positive and negative) and produced a narrative based on a text-free storybook following each video clip. From the audio-recordings of these narratives, individual utterances were transcribed and articulation rates were calculated.

RESULTS

Results indicated that persisting children exhibited significantly slower articulation rates following the negative emotion condition, unlike recovered and nonstuttering children whose articulation rates were not affected by either of the two emotion-inducing conditions. Moreover, all stuttering children displayed faster rates during fluent compared to stuttered speech; however, the recovered children were significantly faster than the persisting children during fluent speech.

CONCLUSION

Negative emotion plays a detrimental role on the speech-motor control processes of children who persist, whereas children who eventually recover seem to exhibit a relatively more stable and mature speech-motor system. This suggests that complex interactions between speech-motor and emotional processes are at play in stuttering recovery and persistency; and articulation rates following negative emotion or during stuttered versus fluent speech might be considered as potential factors to prospectively predict persistence and recovery from stuttering.

Bidirectional effects between parenting sensitivity and child behavior: A cross-lagged analysis across middle childhood and adolescence

Using a longitudinal, cross-lagged design, this study examined the bidirectional relations between mothers' and fathers' sensitivity and children's externalizing (EXT) and internalizing (INT) behavior from middle childhood into adolescence. The subsample comprised families (N = 578) in which the mother and father cohabitated from the study's first time point (child age = 54 months) through Age 15 in the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Study results revealed differential patterns for mother-child and father-child relations in the full sample and separately for males and females. The full cross-lagged models revealed that child EXT behavior predicted maternal sensitivity, but not vice versa, and fathers' sensitivity and child behavior were reciprocally interrelated. There was a significant indirect pathway from early paternal sensitivity to later EXT in males, and from early maternal sensitivity to INT in females. The results point to the important roles that fathers play in child INT and EXT behaviors and important differences between males and females. (PsycINFO Database Record

Executive Functions Impact the Relation Between Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Frequency of Stuttering in Young Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter

Purpose

This study sought to determine whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and executive functions are associated with stuttered speech disfluencies of young children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS).

Method

Thirty-six young CWS and 36 CWNS were exposed to neutral, negative, and positive emotion-inducing video clips, followed by their participation in speaking tasks. During the neutral video, we measured baseline RSA, a physiological index of emotion regulation, and during video viewing and speaking, we measured RSA change from baseline, a physiological index of regulatory responses during challenge. Participants' caregivers completed the Children's Behavior Questionnaire from which a composite score of the inhibitory control and attentional focusing subscales served to index executive functioning.

Results

For both CWS and CWNS, greater decrease of RSA during both video viewing and speaking was associated with more stuttering. During speaking, CWS with lower executive functioning exhibited a negative association between RSA change and stuttering; conversely, CWNS with higher executive functioning exhibited a negative association between RSA change and stuttering.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that decreased RSA during video viewing and speaking is associated with increased stuttering and young CWS differ from CWNS in terms of how their executive functions moderate the relation between RSA change and stuttered disfluencies.

Infant stranger fear trajectories predict anxious behaviors and diurnal cortisol rhythm during childhood

Although a robust literature has linked stable, high levels of fear across childhood to increased risk for anxiety problems, less is known about alternative pathways to anxiety. We tested two putatively normative developmental pathways of early fearfulness for their distinct associations with behavioral (anxiety-related behaviors and symptoms) and biological (diurnal cortisol) markers of anxiety risk in middle childhood in a community-based sample (n = 107). Steeper increases in fear from 6 to 36 months predicted more parent-reported anxiety symptoms at age 8 years. In addition, children who exhibited steep increases in fear during infancy were overrepresented among children with diagnoses of separation anxiety disorder at age 8 years. Finally, we showed that steeper increases in fearfulness in infancy predicted flatter slopes of diurnal cortisol at age 8 years for girls. Thus, differences in stranger fear across infancy may indicate varying degrees of risk for anxious behaviors in later childhood.

Preschool Fantasy-Reality Discrimination: Influences of Trait and Primed Fearfulness

Distinguishing between fantasy and reality is an important developmental milestone, achieved in the preschool years, that has been linked to children's cognitive capabilities and emotional knowledge. The authors examined the influence of both trait and prime fearfulness on preschoolers' ability to differentiate between fantastic and real situations. Forty 3-5-year-old preschoolers were administered a fearfulness assessment, a standard theory-of-mind task, and a fantasy-reality discrimination task (with or without a fear prime). When primed to experience fear, participants who were high in trait fearfulness made more mistakes distinguishing between fantastic and real events than did participants who were low in trait fearfulness. In the absence of a fear prime there was no difference in performance between these two groups. These findings were independent of participants' age, gender, and theory of mind abilities and suggest that preschoolers who are high in trait fearfulness are more prone to difficulty in discriminating between fantasy and reality when actively experiencing fear. This study illuminates important factors that contribute to the errors in fantasy-reality judgments frequently seen in preschoolers.

Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Activity in Toddlers - Resting and Developmental Challenges

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) consists of two branches, the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, and controls the function of internal organs (e.g., heart rate, respiration, digestion) and responds to everyday and adverse experiences (1). ANS measures in children have been found to be related to behavior problems, emotion regulation, and health (2-7). Therefore, understanding the factors that affect ANS development during early childhood is important. Both branches of the ANS affect young children's cardiovascular responses to stimuli and have been measured noninvasively, via external monitoring equipment, using valid and reliable measures of physiological change (8-11). However, there are few studies of very young children with simultaneous measures of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, which limits understanding of the integrated functioning of the two systems. In addition, the majority of existing studies of young children report on infants' resting ANS measures or their reactivity to commonly used mother-child interaction paradigms, and less is known about ANS reactivity to other challenging conditions. We present a study design and standardized protocol for a non-invasive and rapid assessment of cardiac autonomic control in 18 month old children. We describe methods for continuous monitoring of the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the ANS under resting and challenge conditions during a home or laboratory visit and provide descriptive findings from our sample of 140 ethnically diverse toddlers using validated equipment and scoring software. Results revealed that this protocol can produce a range of physiological responses to both resting and developmentally challenging conditions, as indicated by changes in heart rate and indices of parasympathetic and sympathetic activity. Individuals demonstrated variability in resting levels, responses to challenges, and challenge reactivity, which provides additional evidence that this protocol is useful for the examination of ANS individual differences for toddlers.

Child fear reactivity and sex as moderators of links between parenting and preschool behavior problems

Reduced supportive parenting and elevated negative parenting behaviors increase risks for maladaptive social adjustment during early childhood (e.g., Campbell, Shaw, & Gilliom, 2000). However, the magnitude of these risks may vary according to children's individual characteristics, such as sex and temperament. The current study examines whether children's sex and fear reactivity moderate the associations between mothers' observed parenting and children's behavior problems 1 year later. The sample consists of 151 predominantly African American, low-income families with one sibling who is approximately 2 years old and the closest aged older sibling who is approximately 4 years old. Results from fixed-effects within-family models indicate that fear distress (i.e., fearfulness) moderated associations between mothers' observed negative parenting and children's increased behavior problems, such that only those children with mean or higher observed fear distress scores showed increased behavior problems when exposed to mother's negative parenting. Child sex moderated associations between fear approach reactivity (i.e., fearlessness) and mothers' observed supportive parenting. Specifically, low fear approach combined with supportive parenting was associated with fewer behavior problems for boys only. Implications of these findings for preventive intervention are discussed.

Autonomic nervous system activity of preschool-age children who stutter

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity to emotional stimuli between preschool-age children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS).

METHODS

Participants were 20 preschool-age CWS (15 male) and 21 preschool-age CWNS (11 male). Participants were exposed to two emotion-inducing video clips (negative and positive) with neutral clips used to establish pre-and post-arousal baselines, and followed by age-appropriate speaking tasks. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)-often used as an index of parasympathetic activity-and skin conductance level (SCL)-often used as an index of sympathetic activity-were measured while participants listened to/watched the audio-video clip presentation and performed a speaking task.

RESULTS

CWS, compared to CWNS, displayed lower amplitude RSA at baseline and higher SCL during a speaking task following the positive, compared to the negative, condition. During speaking, only CWS had a significant positive relation between RSA and SCL.

CONCLUSION

Present findings suggest that preschool-age CWS, when compared to their normally fluent peers, have a physiological state that is characterized by a greater vulnerability to emotional reactivity (i.e., lower RSA indexing less parasympathetic tone) and a greater mobilization of resources in support of emotional reactivity (i.e., higher SCL indexing more sympathetic activity) during positive conditions. Thus, while reducing stuttering to a pure physiological process is unwarranted, the present findings suggest that the autonomic nervous system is involved.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

The reader will be able to: (a) summarize current empirical evidence on the role of emotion in childhood stuttering; (b) describe physiological indexes of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity; (c) summarize how preschool-age children who stutter differ from preschool-age children who do not stutter in autonomic activity; (d) discuss possible implications of current findings in relation to the development of childhood stuttering.

Temperament as a moderator of the effects of parenting on children's behavior

This study examined the role of child temperament as moderator of the effect of parenting style on children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors. A series of structural equation models were fit to a representative sample of 2,631 Canadian children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. In addition to testing for the presence of Temperament × Parenting interactions, these models also examined the direct and indirect effects of a number of additional contextual factors such as neighborhood problems, neighborhood cohesion, social support, and maternal depression. The results indicate that exposure to more positive parenting reduces behavior problems in children with difficult/unadaptable temperaments. No moderating effects of temperament on hostile parenting were found. Such results serve to highlight the pivotal role of positive features of the rearing environment as catalysts for the successful adaptation of children with difficult/unadaptable temperaments. The results of this modeling work also serve to emphasize the importance of considering the ways in which more distal factors can affect children's behavioral adaptation by contributing to changes in proximal family processes.

Children's dynamic RSA change during anger and its relations with parenting, temperament, and control of aggression

This study examined the moderating effects of child temperament on the association between maternal socialization and 4-6-year-old children's dynamic respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) change in response to anger-themed emotional materials (N=180). We used latent growth curve modeling to explore adaptive patterns of dynamic RSA change in response to anger. Greater change in RSA during anger-induction, characterized by more initial RSA suppression and a subsequent return to baseline, was related to children's better regulation of aggression. For anger-themed materials, low levels of authoritarian parenting predicted more RSA suppression and recovery for more anger-prone children, whereas more authoritative parenting predicted more RSA suppression and recovery for less anger-prone children. These findings suggest that children's adaptive patterns of dynamic RSA change can be characterized by latent growth curve modeling, and that these patterns may be differentially shaped by parent socialization experiences as a function of child temperament.

How can the study of physiological reactivity contribute to our understanding of adversity and resilience processes in development?

The focus of this article is to present current progress in understanding the interplay among adversity, physiological sensitivity to context, and adaptive functioning, with an emphasis on implications and future directions for resilience researchers. It includes a review of current literature that demonstrates (a) links between various levels of adversity exposure and variability in physiological reactivity, (b) how the interplay between children's physiological reactivity and different sources of risk and adversity relates to variability in adaptive functioning, and (c) various approaches for capturing a more dynamic nature of physiological reactivity and related processes. Throughout, important conceptual and empirical issues are highlighted.

Differentiating challenge reactivity from psychomotor activity in studies of children's psychophysiology: considerations for theory and measurement

Current methods of assessing children's physiological "stress reactivity" may be confounded by psychomotor activity, biasing estimates of the relation between reactivity and health. We examined the joint and independent contributions of psychomotor activity and challenge reactivity during a protocol for 5- and 6-year-old children (N = 338). Measures of parasympathetic reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and sympathetic reactivity (preejection period [PEP]) were calculated for social, cognitive, sensory, and emotional challenge tasks. Reactivity was calculated relative to both resting and a paired comparison task that accounted for psychomotor activity effects during each challenge. Results indicated that comparison tasks themselves elicited RSA and PEP responses, and reactivity adjusted for psychomotor activity was incongruent with reactivity calculated using rest. Findings demonstrate the importance of accounting for confounding psychomotor activity effects on physiological reactivity.

A subtle threat cue, heart rate variability, and cognitive performance

This research was designed to extend the literature on heart rate variability (HRV) in cognitive performance contexts by examining whether a subtle threat cue (the color red) in a test environment influences HRV reactivity and whether HRV reactivity is associated with change in cognitive performance. Thirty-three participants took an IQ test, briefly viewed red or a chromatic or achromatic control color, and then took a parallel form of the IQ test. High frequency (HF)-HRV (often referred to as respiratory sinus arrhythmia), was assessed before and after the color manipulation. Results indicated that participants who viewed red (relative to a control color) exhibited a decrease in HF-HRV and that decreased HF-HRV was associated with worse IQ performance. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of HRV as an index of effective and efficient emotion regulation in an achievement context.

Physiological and emotional responses of disabled children to therapeutic clowns: a pilot study

This pilot study examined the effects of Therapeutic Clowning on inpatients in a pediatric rehabilitation hospital. Ten disabled children with varied physical and verbal expressive abilities participated in all or portions of the data collection protocol. Employing a mixed-method, single-subject ABAB study design, measures of physiological arousal, emotion and behavior were obtained from eight children under two conditions-television exposure and therapeutic clown interventions. Four peripheral autonomic nervous system (ANS) signals were recorded as measures of physiological arousal; these signals were analyzed with respect to measures of emotion (verbal self reports of mood) and behavior (facial expressions and vocalizations). Semistructured interviews were completed with verbally expressive children (n = 7) and nurses of participating children (n = 13). Significant differences among children were found in response to the clown intervention relative to television exposure. Physiologically, changes in ANS signals occurred either more frequently or in different patterns. Emotionally, children's (self) and nurses' (observed) reports of mood were elevated positively. Behaviorally, children exhibited more positive and fewer negative facial expressions and vocalizations of emotion during the clown intervention. Content and themes extracted from the interviews corroborated these findings. The results suggest that this popular psychosocial intervention has a direct and positive impact on hospitalized children. This pilot study contributes to the current understanding of the importance of alternative approaches in promoting well-being within healthcare settings.

Parents' differential susceptibility to the effects of marital quality on sensitivity across the first year

The current investigation examined the differential susceptibility of parents to the effects of marital quality on changes in parenting. We predicted that parents who were high on the personality constructs Negative Affect and Constraint would be more susceptible to the effects of marital quality on their level of sensitivity. Sensitivity was assessed at 3.5 and 13 months for both mothers and fathers during a triadic interaction. Consistent with the differential susceptibility theory, results suggested that when mothers were high on Negative Affect and when fathers were high on Constraint, their marital quality was associated with changes in sensitivity. This investigation suggests that personality factors may create "vulnerabilities" in parents that make them differentially susceptible to the effects of the family environment on parenting.

Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: a review

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity is viewed as a major component of the emotion response in many recent theories of emotion. Positions on the degree of specificity of ANS activation in emotion, however, greatly diverge, ranging from undifferentiated arousal, over acknowledgment of strong response idiosyncrasies, to highly specific predictions of autonomic response patterns for certain emotions. A review of 134 publications that report experimental investigations of emotional effects on peripheral physiological responding in healthy individuals suggests considerable ANS response specificity in emotion when considering subtypes of distinct emotions. The importance of sound terminology of investigated affective states as well as of choice of physiological measures in assessing ANS reactivity is discussed.

Parent–child relationship, temperament, and physiological reactions to fear-inducing film clips: Further evidence for differential susceptibility

Recent studies have supported the intriguing hypothesis that highly reactive infants are most susceptible to the effect of parenting. This study replicates and extends an earlier study on 4-year-olds concerning higher susceptibility of more fearful children to the quality of their relationships with their mothers, as shown by their physiological reactions to fear-inducing film clips. Two groups of children (4- and 7-year-olds) were shown the same fear-inducing and neutral film clips. During the film clips, their skin conductance and heart rate variability were measured. Both 4- and 7-year-olds responded to the fear-inducing film clips with increases in skin conductance and decreases in heart rate variability. A secure relationship affected the reactivity to fearful stimuli in temperamentally more fearful children but not in less fearful children irrespective of children's ages. Our findings add to the growing literature showing that children high in negative emotion are more susceptible to positive as well as negative rearing influences for better and for worse.