Fathering across contexts: The moderating role of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in predicting toddler emotion regulation

Pathways to emotion regulation in young Black children: An attachment perspective

Attachment theory proposes that a central function of caregivers is to provide protection and co-regulation of children's distress in the context of threat, and that children's secure attachment (confidence in a secure base/safe haven when needed) precipitates positive developmental cascades in part by supporting children's emotion regulation. Yet the field of attachment has rarely considered the unique experiences of African American families, including the context of systemic racism in which caregivers must provide physical and emotional protection for their children, and in which children must learn to regulate emotion across different sociocultural contexts (emotional flexibility and "code-switching"; Dunbar et al., 2022a; Lozada et al., 2022; Stern et al., 2022b). This chapter brings attachment theory into conversation with the field of positive Black youth development to explore pathways to emotion regulation in African American children during early childhood. In doing so, we (a) highlight the strengths of African American caregivers in providing unique and specific forms of protection via racial and emotional socialization; (b) review research on predictors and consequences of secure caregiver-child relationships in Black families, with a focus on the outcome of child emotion regulation; (c) present a theoretical framework for understanding cascades of positive Black youth development via healthy relationships and emotion regulation; and (d) outline promising new directions for more inclusive and just attachment research.

Prenatal paternal stress predicts infant parasympathetic functioning above and beyond maternal prenatal stress

BACKGROUND

Paternal stress is often assessed by maternal report and is posited to influence infant development indirectly by contributing to a mother's stress and experiences during pregnancy. Far less is known about how direct effects of prenatal paternal stress, as described by fathers themselves, are related to an infant's physiological functioning. We assessed fathers' own experiences of stress and examined its direct impact on infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a biological index of self-regulation, at seven-month postpartum.

METHOD

During the third trimester of pregnancy, the UCLA Life Stress Interview was conducted to assess chronic stress in mothers and fathers (N = 90). Infant baseline RSA and RSA reactivity in response to the Still-Face paradigm were assessed at seven-month postpartum.

RESULTS

Infants of fathers with high prenatal stress showed lower baseline RSA, possibly reflective of poor infant psychophysiological regulation. The predictive role of paternal stress remained significant after controlling for maternal stress.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings provide emerging empirical evidence to support the influence of prenatal paternal stress on infant RSA, highlighting the important role of fathers for child development.

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.

Parental history of childhood maltreatment and child average RSA shape parent-child RSA synchrony

We examined whether dynamic parent-child RSA synchrony varied by individual differences in child average RSA and parental history of childhood maltreatment (CM), which has been linked to parental behavioral and physiological dysregulation. We also examined whether RSA synchrony was curvilinear, reflecting homeostatic regulation. Synchrony was defined as the dynamic association between parent and child RSA reactivity (change relative to their own mean) within epoch across a challenging task. Eighty-three mother-preschooler and 61 father-preschooler dyads participated. State-trait modeling showed that RSA synchrony was curvilinear such that significant relations were only found at lower and higher child reactivity. Children's higher task average RSA predicted maternal RSA augmentation and lower task average RSA predicted maternal RSA withdrawal, regardless of whether child reactivity in the moment was low or high, suggesting individual differences in child regulatory capacity were associated with dynamic maternal reactivity. When maternal CM history and child average RSA were both higher, mothers showed RSA augmentation. Father-child synchrony was not moderated by child average RSA but greater paternal CM history predicted fathers' greater RSA withdrawal regardless of whether child RSA reactivity was low or high. Findings offer novel insights into the nature and meaning of RSA synchrony with parents at risk.

Differences in mother-child and father-child RSA synchrony: Moderation by child self-regulation and dyadic affect

Parents and preschoolers show respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony, but it is unclear how child self-regulation and the dyadic affective climate shape RSA synchrony and how synchrony differs for mothers and fathers. We examined child average RSA, externalizing problems, and dyadic positive affect as moderators of the synchrony of dynamic, within-epoch child and parent RSA reactivity during a challenging task. Mothers (N = 82) and fathers (N = 60) oversampled for familial risk participated with their 3-year-olds. For mothers, when children showed either higher externalizing or lower average RSA, negative RSA synchrony was observed as dynamic coupling of maternal RSA augmentation and child RSA withdrawal, suggesting inadequate support of the child during challenge. However, when children showed both higher externalizing and lower average RSA, indicating greater regulatory difficulties overall, positive synchrony was observed as joint RSA withdrawal. The same patterns were found for father-child RSA synchrony but instead with respect to the moderators of higher externalizing and lower dyadic positive affect. Findings suggest moderators of RSA synchrony differ by parent and shared positive affect plays a robust role in fathers' RSA reactivity and synchrony. Mothers may be more attuned to children's regulatory capacities, whereas fathers may be more influenced by the immediate behavioral context.

Infant biological sensitivity to father engagement in low-income Mexican American families

Despite a sizeable literature documenting meaningful contributions of father involvement to child health and development, researchers have paid little attention to biological characteristics that may render a child more or less sensitive to fathering behavior. The identification of child and paternal characteristics that promote child behavioral health is particularly critical in the context of sociocultural risk. We hypothesized that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) measured during infancy would moderate the impact of father engagement in caregiving activities on child behavioral health. In a sample of 181 Mexican American families, we evaluated the impact of infant RSA at 6 weeks, mother- and father-reported father engagement in caregiving activities at 15 and 21 weeks, and their interaction on toddler social or emotional behavior problems and competence at 2 years of age. Only infants with average or higher RSA exhibited more behavior problems in the context of low father engagement (p = .021). Neither RSA nor father engagement predicted behavioral competence. The results are consistent with a stress-diathesis process such that higher infant RSA increases vulnerability to suboptimal father involvement, but does not enhance the benefits of high father involvement.