Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:59:12.254Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Family conflict, autonomic nervous system functioning, and child adaptation: State of the science and future directions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2011

Mona El-Sheikh  and
Stephen A. Erath
Mona El-Sheikh*
Affiliation:
Auburn University
Stephen A. Erath
Affiliation:
Auburn University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Mona El-Sheikh, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, 203 Spidle Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The family is one of the primary contexts of child development. Marital and parent–child conflict (family conflict) are common and predict a wide range of negative behavioral and emotional outcomes in children. Thus, an important task for developmental researchers is to identify the processes through which family conflict contributes to children's psychological maladjustment, as well as vulnerability and protective factors in the context of family conflict. In the current paper, we aim to advance a conceptual model that focuses on indices of children's autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning that increase vulnerability or provide protection against psychological maladjustment in the context of family conflict. In doing so, we provide a selective review that reflects the state of the science linking family conflict, children's ANS activity, and child psychological adjustment, and offer directions and guidance for future research. Our hope is to accelerate research at the intersection of family conflict and ANS functioning to advance understanding of risk and resilience among children.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , May 2011 , pp. 703 - 721
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abercrombie, H. C., Speck, N. S., & Monticelli, R. M. (2006). Endogenous cortisol elevations are related to memory facilitation only in individuals who are emotionally aroused. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31, 187–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Alkon, A., Goldstein, L. H., Smider, N., Essex, M. J., Kupfer, D. J., & Boyce, W. T. (2003). Developmental and contextual influences on autonomic reactivity in young children. Developmental Psychobiology, 42, 64–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andreassi, J. L. (2007). Psychophysiology: Human behavior and physiological response. New York: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ashman, S. B., Dawson, G., & Panagiotides, H. (2008). Trajectories of maternal depression over 7 years: Relations with child psychophysiology and behavior and role of contextual risks. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 55–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice–Hall.Google Scholar
Barber, B. K., & Harmon, E. L. (2002). Violating the self: Parental psychological control of children and adolescents. In Barber, B. K. (Ed.), Intrusive parenting: How psychological control affects children and adolescents (pp. 15–52). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, D. H. (2000). Unraveling the mysteries of anxiety and its disorders from the perspective of emotion theory. American Psychologist, 55, 1247–1263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauer, A. M., Quas, J. A., & Boyce, W. T. (2002). Associations between physiological reactivity and children's behavior: Advantages of a multisystem approach. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 23, 102–113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchaine, T. (2001). Vagal tone, development, and Gray's Motivational Theory: Toward an integrated model of autonomic nervous system functioning in psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 183–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchaine, T. P. (2009). Some difficulties in interpreting psychophysiological research with children [Commentary]. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 74(1, Serial No. 292).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchaine, T. P., Gatzke-Kopp, L., & Mead, H. K. (2007). Polyvagal theory and developmental psychopathology: Emotion dysregulation and conduct problems from preschool to adolescence. Biological Psychology, 74, 174–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchaine, T. P., Hong, J., & Marsh, P. (2008). Sex differences in autonomic correlates of conduct problems and aggression. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47, 788–796.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchaine, T. P., Katkin, E. S., Strassberg, Z., & Snarr, J. (2001). Disinhibitory psychopathology in male adolescents: Discriminating conduct disorder from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder through concurrent assessment of multiple autonomic states. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 610–624.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchaine, T. P., Klein, D. N., Crowell, S. E., Derbidge, C., & Gatzke-Kopp, L. (2009). Multifinality in the development of personality disorders: A Biology × Sex × Environment interaction model of antisocial and borderline traits. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 735–770.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsky, J. (2005). Differential susceptibility to rearing influence: An evolutionary hypothesis and some evidence. In Ellis, B. J. & Bjorklund, D. F. (Eds.), Origins of the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and child development (pp. 139–163). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2009). Beyond diathesis stress: Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 885–908.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benarroch, E. E. (1993). The central autonomic network: Functional organization, dysfunction, and perspective. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 68, 988–1001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berntson, G. G., Bigger, J. T. Jr., Eckberg, D. L., Grossman, P., Kaufmann, P. G., & Malik, M., et al. (1997). Heart rate variability: Origins, methods, and interpretive Caveats. Psychophysiology, 34, 623–648.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berntson, G. G., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2004). Heart rate variability: Stress and psychiatric conditions. In Malik, M. & Camm, A. J. (Eds.), Dynamic electrocardiography (pp. 57–64). New York: Blackwell/Futura.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berntson, G. G., Cacioppo, J. T., & Fieldstone, A. (1994). Illusions, arithmetic, and the bidirectional modulation of vagal control of the heart. Biological Psychology, 44, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berntson, G. G., Cacioppo, J. T., & Quigley, K. S. (1991). Autonomic determinism: The modes of autonomic control, the doctrine of autonomic space, and the laws of autonomic constraint. Psychological Review, 98, 459–487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bishop, N. C., Walker, G. J., Scanlon, G. A., Richards, S., & Rogers, E. (2006). Salivary IgA responses to prolonged intensive exercise following caffeine ingestion. Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, 38, 513–519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blair, C., Peters, R., & Granger, D. (2004). Physiological and neuropsychological correlates of approach/withdrawal tendencies in preschool: Further examination of the behavioral inhibition system/behavioral activation system scales for young children. Developmental Psychobiology, 45, 113–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blandon, A. Y., Calkins, S. D., Keane, S. P., & O'Brien, M. (2008). Individual differences in trajectories of emotion regulation processes: The effects of maternal depressive symptomatology and children's physiological regulation. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1110–1123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bornstein, M. H., & Suess, P. E. (2000). Child and mother cardiac vagal tone: Continuity, stability, and concordance across the first 5 years. Developmental Psychology, 36, 54–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boucsein, W. (1992). Electodermal activity. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyce, W. T., & Ellis, B. J. (2005). Biological sensitivity to context: I. An evolutionary-developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity. Developmental Psychopathology, 17, 271–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyce, W. T., Quas, J., Alkon, A., Smider, N. A., Essex, M. J., & Kupfer, D. J. (2001). Autonomic reactivity and psychopathology in middle childhood. British Journal of Psychiatry, 179, 144–150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brenner, S. L., Beauchaine, T. P., & Sylvers, P. D. (2005). A comparison of psychophysiological and self-report measures of BAS and BIS activation. Psychophysiology, 42, 108–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bueno, L., Gue, M., Fargeas, M. J., Alvinerie, M., Junien, J. L., & Fioramonti, J. (1989). Vagally mediated inhibition of acoustic stress-induced cortisol release by orally administered kappa-opioid substances in dogs. Endocrinology, 124, 1788–1793.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, S. A., McGue, M., Krueger, R. F., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). How are parent–child conflict and childhood externalizing symptoms related over time? Results from a genetically informative cross-lagged study. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 145–165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cacioppo, J. T., Uchino, B. N., & Berntson, G. G. (1994). Individual differences in the autonomic origins of heart rate reactivity: The psychometrics of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and preejection period. Psychophysiology, 31, 412–419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, S. D. (1997). Cardiac vagal tone indices of temperamental reactivity and behavioral regulation in young children. Developmental Psychobiology, 31, 125–135.3.0.CO;2-M>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, S. D., & Dedmon, S. E. (2000). Physiological and behavioral regulation in two-year-old children with aggressive/destructive behavior problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 28, 103–118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, S. D., Graziano, P. A., & Keane, S. P. (2007). Cardiac vagal regulation differentiates among children at risk for behavior problems. Biological Psychology, 74, 144–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, S. D., & Keane, S. P. (2004). Cardiac vagal regulation across the preschool period: Stability, continuity, and implications for childhood adjustment. Developmental Psychobiology, 45, 101–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, S. D., Smith, C. L., Gill, K. L., Johnson, M. C. (1998). Maternal interactive style across contexts: Relations to emotional, behavioral and physiological regulation during toddlerhood. Social Development, 7, 350–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, A. S., & Allen, J. J. B. (2002). Vagal tone as an indicator of treatment response in major depression. Psychophysiology, 39, 861–864.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chatterton, R. T., Vogelsong, K. M., Lu, Y., Ellman, A. B., & Hudgens, G. A. (1996). Salivary alpha-amylase as a measure of endogenous adrenergic activity. Clinical Physiology, 16, 433–448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D. (2006). Development and Psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 1. Theory and methods (2nd ed., pp. 1–23). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Crockenberg, S., & Langrock, A. (2001). The role of specific emotions in children's responses to interparental conflict: A test of the model. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 163–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crowell, S. E., Beauchaine, T. P., Gatzke-Kopp, L., Sylvers, P., Mead, H., & Chipman-Chacon, J. (2006). Autonomic correlates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder in preschool children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 174–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. (1994). Children and marital conflict: The impact of family dispute and resolution. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (1996). Emotional security as a regulatory process in normal development and the development of psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 123–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, E. M., El-Sheikh, M., Kouros, C. D., & Keller, P. S. (2007). Children's skin conductance reactivity as a mechanism of risk in the context of parental depressive symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 436–445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, E. M., Goeke-Morey, M., & Papp, L. (2004). Everyday marital conflict and child aggression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 191–202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dadds, M. R., & Salmon, K. (2003). Punishment insensitivity and parenting: Temperament and learning as interacting risks for antisocial behavior. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 6, 69–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P. T., & Cummings, E. M. (2006). Interparental discord, family process, and developmental psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 3. Risk, disorder, and adaptation (2nd ed., pp. 86–128). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Davies, P. T., Harold, G. T., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Cummings, E. M. (2002). Child emotional security and interparental conflict. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 67(3, Serial No. 270).Google ScholarPubMed
Dietrich, A., Riese, H., Sondeijker, F. E. P. L., Greaves-Lord, K., van Roon, A. M., Ormel, J., et al. (2007). Externalizing and internalizing problems in relation to autonomic function: A population-based study in preadolescents. Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 46, 378–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doussard-Roosevelt, J. A., Montgomery, L. A., & Porges, S. W. (2003). Short-term stability of physiological measures in kindergarten children: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart period, and cortisol. Developmental Psychobiology, 43, 231–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Guthrie, I. K., & Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 78, 136–157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, B. J., & Boyce, W. T. (2006). Biological sensitivity to context. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 183–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Sheikh, M. (2001). Parental drinking problems and children's adjustments: Vagal regulation and emotional reactivity as pathways and moderators of risk. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 499–515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M. (2005a). Stability of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in children and young adolescents: A longitudinal examination. Developmental and Psychopathology, 46, 66–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Sheikh, M. (2005b). The role of emotional responses and physiological reactivity in the marital conflict–child functioning link. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 1191–1199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M. (2005c). Does poor vagal regulation exacerbate child maladjustment in the context of parental problem drinking? A longitudinal examination. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 735–741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Sheikh, M. (2007). Children's skin conductance level and reactivity: Are these measures stable over time and across tasks? Developmental Psychobiology, 49, 180–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Arsiwalla, D. D., Hinnant, J. B., & Erath, S. A. (in press). Children's internalizing symptoms: The role of interactions between cortisol and respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Physiology & Behavior.Google Scholar
El Sheikh, M., & Buckhalt, J. A. (2005). Vagal regulation and emotional intensity predict children's sleep problems. Developmental Psychophysiology, 46, 307–317.Google ScholarPubMed
El Sheikh, M., & Buckhalt, J., Mize, J., & Acebo, C. (2006). Marital conflict and disruption of children's sleep. Child Development, 77, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Cummings, E. M., Kouros, C. E., Elmore-Staton, L., & Buckhalt, J. A. (2008). Marital psychological and physical aggression and children' mental and physical health: Direct, mediated, and moderated effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 138–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Erath, S. A., Buckhalt, J. A., Granger, D. A., & Mize, J. (2008). Cortisol and children's adjustment: The moderating role of sympathetic nervous system activity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 601–611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Harger, J., & Whitson, S. (2001). Exposure to parental conflict and children's adjustment and physical health: The moderating role of vagal tone. Child Development, 72, 1617–1636.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Hinnant, J. B., & Erath, S. A. (2011). Developmental trajectories of delinquency symptoms in childhood: The role of marital conflict and autonomic nervous system activity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 16–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Keiley, M., & Hinnant, J. B. (2010). Developmental trajectories of skin conductance level in middle childhood: Sex, race, and externalizing behavior problems as predictors of growth. Biological Psychology, 83, 116–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Keller, P. S., & Erath, S. A. (2007). Marital conflict and risk for child maladjustment over time: Skin conductance level reactivity as a vulnerability factor. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 715–727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., Kouros, C. D., Erath, S., Cummings, E. M., Keller, P., & Staton, L. (2009). Marital conflict and children's externalizing behavior: Interactions between parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 74(1, Serial No. 292).Google ScholarPubMed
El-Sheikh, M., & Whitson, S. A. (2006). Longitudinal relations between marital conflict and child adjustment: Vagal regulation as a protective factor. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 30–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erath, S. A., & El-Sheikh, M. (2009). Predicting childhood internalizing: HPA × PNS interactions. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO.Google Scholar
Erath, S. A., El-Sheikh, M., & Cummings, E. M. (2009). Harsh parenting and child externalizing behavior: Skin conductance level reactivity as a moderator. Child Development, 80, 578–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erath, S. A., El-Sheikh, M., Hinnant, J. B., & Cummings, E. M. (2010). Skin conductance level reactivity moderates the association between harsh parenting and growth in child externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/a0021909Google Scholar
Erel, O., & Burman, B. (1995). Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent–child relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 108–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, G. W. (2003). A multimethodological analysis of cumulative risk and allostatic load among rural children. Developmental Psychology, 39, 924–933.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., Karbon, M., Troyer, D., & Switzer, G. (1994). The relations of children's emotion regulation to their vicarious emotional responses and comforting behaviors. Child Development, 65, 1678–1693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fowles, D. C., Kochanska, G., & Murray, K. (2000). Electrodermal activity and temperament in preschool children. Psychophysiology, 37, 777–787.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, N. A., & Calkins, S. D. (2003). The development of self-control of emotion: Intrinsic and extrinsic influences. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 7–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frick, P. J., & Ellis, M. (1999). Callous-unemotional traits and subtypes of conduct disorder. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2, 149–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fung, M. T., Raine, A., Loeber, R., Lynam, D. R., Steinhauer, S. R., Venables, P. H., et al. (2005). Reduced electrodermal activity in psychopathy-prone adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 187–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gazelle, H., & Druhen, M. J. (2009). Anxious solitude and peer exclusion predict social helplessness, upset affect, and vagal regulation in response to behavioral rejection by a friend. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1077–1096.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gazelle, H., & Rudolph, K. D. (2004). Toward and away from the world: Social approach and avoidance trajectories in anxious solitary youth. Child Development, 75, 829–849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 539–579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, C. (1998). Emotional sources of dysfunctional breathing. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2, 224–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordis, E. B., Feres, N., Olezeski, C. L., Rabkin, A. N. & Trickett, P. K. (2010). Skin conductance reactivity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia among maltreated and comparison youth: Relations with aggressive behavior. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 35, 547–558.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordis, E. B., Granger, D. A., Susman, E. J., & Trickett, P. K. (2006). Asymmetry between salivary cortisol and [alpha]-amylase reactivity to stress: Relation to aggressive behavior in adolescents. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31, 976–987.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordis, E. B., Granger, D. A., Susman, E. J., & Trickett, P. K. (2008). Salivary alpha amylase-cortisol asymmetry in maltreated youth. Hormones and Behavior, 53, 96–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottesman, I. I., & Gould, T. D. (2003). The endophenotype concept in psychiatry: Etymology and strategic intentions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 636–645.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottman, J. M., & Katz, L. F. (2002). Children's emotional reactions to stressful parent–child interactions. Marriage and Family Review, 34, 265–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottman, J. M., Katz, L. F., & Hooven, C. (1996). Parental meta-emotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data. Journal of Family Psychology, 10, 243–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granger, D. A., Kivlighan, K. T., El-Sheikh, M., Gordis, E., & Stroud, L. R. (2007). Salivary alpha-amylase in biobehavioral research: Recent developments and applications. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1098, 122–144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gray, J. A. (1987). Perspectives on anxiety and impulsivity: A commentary. Journal of Research in Personality, 21, 493–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graziano, P. A., Keane, S. P., & Calkins, S. D. (2007). Cardiac vagal regulation and early peer status. Child Development, 78, 264–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grossman, P., & Taylor, E. W. (2007). Toward understanding respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Relations to cardiac vagal tone, evolution and biobehavioral functions. Biological Psychology, 74, 263–285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grych, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Marital conflict and children's adjustment: A cognitive–contextual framework. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 267–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunnar, M. R., Porter, F. L., Wolf, C. M., Rigatuso, J., & Larson, M. C. (1995). Neonatal stress reactivity: Predictions to later emotional temperament. Child Development, 66, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunnar, M. R., & Vazquez, D. M. (2006). Stress neurobiology and developmental psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 2. Developmental neuroscience (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Hastings, P., Sullivan, C., McShane, K., Coplan, R., Utendale, W., & Vyncke, J. (2008). Parental socialization, vagal regulation, and preschoolers' anxious difficulties: Direct mothers and moderated fathers. Child Development, 79, 45–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hatch, J. P., Borcherding, S., & German, C. (1992). Cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic activity during self-regulation of heart period. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 17, 89–106.Google ScholarPubMed
Hayano, J., Sakakibara, Y., Yamada, A., Yamada, M., Mukai, S., Fujinami, T., et al. (1991). Accuracy of assessment of cardiac vagal tone by heart rate variability in normal subjects. American Journal of Cardiology, 67, 199–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herpertz, S. C., Mueller, B., Qunaibi, M., Lichterfeld, C., Konrad, K., & Herpertz-Dahlmann, B. (2005). Response to emotional stimuli in boys with conduct disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 1100–1107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hessler, D., & Fainsilber Katz, L. (2007). Children's emotion regulation: Self-report and physiological response to peer provocation. Developmental Psychology, 43, 27–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hinnant, J. B., & El-Sheikh, M. (2009). Children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms over time: The role of individual differences in patterns of vagal responding. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 1049–1061.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinnant, J. B., Staton, L., & El-Sheikh, M. (2010). Developmental trajectories of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and pre-ejection period in middle childhood. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Hubbard, J. A., Smithmyer, C. M., Ramsden, S. R., Parker, E. H., Flanagan, K. D., Dearing, K. F., et al. (2002). Observational, physiological, and self-reported measures of children's anger: Relations to reactive versus proactive aggression. Child Development, 73, 1101–1118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Imrich, R., Eldadah, B. A., Bentho, O., Pechnik, S., Sharabi, Y., Holmes, C., et al. (2008). Attenuated pre-ejection period response to tyramine in patients with cardiac sympathetic denervation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1148, 486–489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Snidman, N. C. (1988). Biological bases of childhood shyness. Science, 240, 167–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kagan, J., Snidman, N., Arcus, D., & Reznick, J. S. (1994). Galen's prophecy: Temperament in human nature. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Karavidas, M., Lehrer, P., Vaschillo, E., Vaschillo, B., Marin, H., Buyske, S., et al. (2007). Preliminary results of an open label study of heart rate variability biofeedback for the treatment of major depression. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 32, 19–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, L. (2007). Domestic violence and vagal reactivity to peer provocation. Biological Psychology, 74, 154–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, L. F. (2001). Physiological processes and mediators of the impact of marital conflict on children. In Grych, J. H. & Finchman, F. D. (Eds.), Interparental conflict and child development: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 188–212). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1995). Vagal tone protects children from marital conflict. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 83–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1997). Buffering children from marital conflict and dissolution. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26, 157–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keller, P. S., & El-Sheikh, M. (2009). Salivary alpha-amylase as a longitudinal predictor of children's externalizing symptoms: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia as a moderator of effects. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34, 633–643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, A. E., Rubin, K. H., Hastings, P. D., & Maisel, B. (2004). Longitudinal relations between child vagal tone and parenting behavior: 2 to 4 years. Developmental Psychobiology, 45, 10–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larkin, K. T., & Kasprowicz, A. L. (1986). Validation of a simple method of assessing cardiac preejection period: A potential index of sympathetic nervous system activity. Perception and Motor Skills, 63, 295–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leary, A., & Katz, L. F. (2004). Coparenting, family-level processes, and peer outcomes: The moderating role of vagal tone. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 593–608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindsey, E. W., Caldera, Y. M., & Tankersley, L. (2009). Marital conflict and the quality of young children's peer play behavior: The mediating and moderating role of parent–child emotional reciprocity and attachment security. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 130–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lorber, M. F. (2004). Psychophysiology of aggression, psychopathy, and conduct problems: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 531–552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masi, C. M., Hawkley, L. C., Rickett, E. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and diseases of aging: Obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Biological Psychology, 74, 212–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masten, A. S. (2006). Developmental psychopathology: Pathways to the future. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30, 47–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBurnett, K. (1992). Psychobiological approaches to personality and their applications to child psychopathology. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, 14, 107–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBurnett, K., Lahey, B. B., Rathouz, P. J., & Loeber, R. (2000). Low salivary cortisol and persistent aggression in boys referred for disruptive behavior. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 38–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEwen, B. S. (1998). Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 840, 33–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEwen, B. S., & Lasley, E. N. (2002). The end of stress. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press.Google Scholar
Mezzacappa, E. S., Kelsey, R., Katkin, E., & Sloan, R. (2001). Vagal rebound and recovery from psychological stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63, 650–657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, G. E., Chen, E., & Zhou, E. S. (2007). If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical axis in humans. Psychology Bulletin, 133, 25–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nater, U. M., La Marca, R., Florin, L., Moses, A., Langhans,W., Koller, M. M., et al. (2006). Stress-induced changes in human salivary alpha-amylase activity-associations with adrenergic activity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31, 49–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nater, U. M., Rohleder, N., Gaab, J., Berger, S., Jud, A., Kirschbaum, C., et al. (2005). Human salivary alpha-amylase reactivity in a psychosocial stress paradigm. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 55, 333–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obradović, J., Bush, N. R., & Boyce, W. T. (2009). The effect of marital conflict and stress reactivity on externalizing varies across different laboratory stressors. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO.Google Scholar
Obradovic, J., Bush, N. R., Stamperdahl, J., Adler, N. E., & Boyce, W. T. (2010). Biological sensitivity to context: The interactive effects of stress reactivity and family adversity on socioemotional behavior and school readiness. Child Development, 81, 270–289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Brien, L. M., & Gozal, D. (2005). Autonomic dysfunction in children with sleep-disordered breathing. Pediatrics, 28, 747–752.Google ScholarPubMed
Patterson, G. R. (2002). The early development of coercive family processes. In Reid, J. B., Patterson, G. R., & Snyder, J. (Eds.), Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A developmental analysis and model for intervention (pp. 25–44). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., & Dishion, T. J. (1992). Antisocial boys. Eugene, OR: Castalia.Google Scholar
Pettit, G. S., & Arsiwalla, D. D. (2008). Commentary on special section on “bidirectional parent child relationships”: The continuing evolution of dynamic, transactional models of parenting and youth behavior problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 711–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., & Meece, D. W. (1999). The impact of after-school peer contact on early adolescent externalizing problems is moderated by parental monitoring, perceived neighborhood safety, and prior adjustment. Child Development, 70, 768–778.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (1976). Peripheral and neurochemical parallels of psychopathology: A psychophysiological model relating autonomic imbalance in hyperactivity, psychopathology, and autism. In Reese, H. (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 11, pp. 35–65). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Porges, S. W. (1995). Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage. A polyvagal theory. Psychophysiology, 32, 301–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porges, S. W. (1998). Love: An emergent property of the mammalian autonomic nervous system. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 23, 837–861.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porges, S. W. (2001). The polyvagal theory: Phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42, 123–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2003). The polyvagal theory: Phylogenetic contributions to social behavior. Physiology & Behavior, 79, 503–513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2007). The polyvagal perspective. Biological Psychology, 74, 116–143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porter, C. L., Wouden-Miller, M., Silva, S. S., & Porter, A. E. (2003). Marital harmony and conflict: Links to infants' emotional regulation and cardiac vagal tone. Infancy, 4, 297–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Propper, C., & Moore, G. A. (2006). The influence of parenting on infant emotionality: A multi-level psychobiological perspective. Developmental Review, 26, 427–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quigley, K. S., & Stifter, C. A. (2006). A comparative validation of sympathetic reactivity in children and adults. Psychophysiology, 43, 357–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A. (2002). Annotation: The role of prefrontal deficits, low autonomic arousal, and early health factors in the development of antisocial and aggressive behavior in children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 417–434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A., Venables, P. H., Dalais, C., Mellingen, K., Reynolds, C., & Mednick, S. A. (2001). Early educational and health enrichment at age 3–5 years is associated with increased autonomic and central nervous system arousal and orienting at age 11 years: Evidence from the Mauritius Child Health Project. Psychophysiology, 38, 254–266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A., Venables, P. H., & Williams, M. (1990). Autonomic orienting responses in 15-year-old male subjects and criminal behavior at age 24. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 933–937.Google ScholarPubMed
Reid, J. B., Patterson, G. R., & Snyder, J. (2002). Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A developmental analysis and model for intervention. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Rennie, K. L., Hemingway, H., Kumari, M., Brunner, E., Malik, M., & Marmot, M. (2003). Effects of moderate and vigorous physical activity on heart rate variability in a British study of civil servants. American Journal of Epidemiology, 158, 135–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Repetti, R. L., Taylor, S. E., & Seeman, T. E. (2002). Risky families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 330–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richter, M., & Gendolla, G. H. E. (2009). The heart contracts to reward: Monetary incentives and preejection period. Psychophysiology, 46, 451–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohleder, N., Nater, U. M., Wolf, J. M., Ehlert, U., & Kirschbaum, C. (2004). Psychosocial stress-induced activation of salivary alpha-amylase: An indicator of sympathetic activity? Annuals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1032, 258–263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubin, K. H., & Mills, R. S. L. (1988). The many faces of social isolation in childhood. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 916–924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1990). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. In Rolf, J., Masten, A. S., Cicchetti, D., Nuechterlein, K. H., & Weintraub, S. (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 181–214). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salomon, K. (2005). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia during stress predicts resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia 3 years later in a pediatric sample. Health Psychology, 24, 68–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salomon, K., Matthews, K. A., & Allen, M. T. (2000). Patterns of sympathetic reactivity in a sample of children and adolescents. Psychophysiology, 37, 842–849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santucci, A. K., Silk, J. S., Shaw, D. S., Gentzler, A., Fox, N. A., & Kovacs, M. (2008). Vagal tone and temperament as predictors of emotion regulation strategies in young children. Developmental Psychobiology, 50, 205–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, L. A., Fox, N. A., Schulkin, J., & Gold, P. W. (1999). Behavioral and psychophysiological correlates of self-presentation in temperamentally shy children. Developmental Psychobiology, 35, 119–135.3.0.CO;2-G>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schommer, N. C., Hellhammer, D. H., & Kirschbaum, C. (2003). Dissociation between reactivity of the hypothalamus–adrenal–medullary systems to repeated psychosocial stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 450–460.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shannon, K. E., Beauchaine, T. P., Brenner, S. L., Neuhaus, E., & Gatzke-Kopp, L. (2007). Familial and temperamental predictors of resilience in children at risk for conduct disorder and depression. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 701–727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherwood, A., Allen, M., Obrist, P., & Langer, A. (1986). Evaluation of beta-adrenergic influences on cardiovascular and metabolic adjustments to physical and psychological stress. Psychophysiology, 23, 89–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheinkopf, S. J., Lagasse, L. L., Lester, B. M., Liu, J., Seifer, R., Bauer, C. R., et al. (2007). Vagal tone as a resilience factor in children with prenatal cocaine exposure. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 649–673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siepmann, M., Heine, B., Kluge, A., Ziemssen, T., Muck-Weymann, M., & Kirch, W. (2007). The effects of lorazepam on skin conductance responses to aversive stimuli in healthy subjects. Clinical Autonomic Research, 17, 160–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snoek, H., van Goozen, S. H. M., Matthys, W., Buitelaar, J. K., & van Engeland, H. (2004). Stress responsivity in children with externalizing behavior disorders. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 389–406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, L., & Avenevoli, S. (2000). The role of context in the development of psychopathology: A conceptual framework and some speculative propositions. Child Development, 71, 66–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suess, P. E., Porges, S. W., & Plude, D. J. (1994). Cardiac vagal tone and sustained attention in school-age children. Psychophysiology, 31, 17–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thayer, J. F., Hall, M., Sollers, J. J., & Fischer, J. E. (2006). Alcohol use, urinary cortisol, and heart rate variability in apparently healthy men: Evidence for impaired inhibitory control of the HPA axis in heavy drinkers. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 56, 244–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thayer, J. F., & Lane, R. D. (2007). The role of vagal function in the risk for cardiovascular disease and mortality. Biological Psychology, 74, 224–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thayer, J. F., & Lane, R. D. (2009). Claude Bernard and the heart–brain connection: Further elaboration of a model of neurovisceral integration. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 81–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thayer, J. F., & Sternberg, E. (2006). Beyond heart rate variability: Vagal regulation of allostatic systems. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1088, 361–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Troxel, W. M., & Matthews, K. A. (2004). What are the costs of marital conflict and dissolution to children's physical health? Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 7, 29–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Bokhoven, I., Matthys, W., van Goozen, S. H. M., & van Engeland, H. (2005). Prediction of adolescent outcome in children with disruptive behaviour disorders: A study of neurobiological, psychological and family factors. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 14, 153–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Goozen, S. H. M., Matthys, W., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Buitelaar, J. K. & van Engeland, H. (2000). Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and automatic nervous system activity in disruptive children and matched controls. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 1438–1445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Goozen, S. H. M., Matthys, W., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Gispen-de Wied, C., & van Engeland, H. (1998). Salivary cortisol and cardiovascular activity during stress in oppositional–defiant disorder boys and normal controls. Biological Psychiatry, 43, 531–539.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vasey, M. W. & Daleiden, E. L. (1996). Information-processing pathways to cognitive interference in childhood. In Sarason, I. G., Pierce, G., & Sarason, B. (Eds.), Cognitive interference: Theory, methods, and findings (pp. 117–138). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Venables, P. H., & Christie, M. J. (1980). Electrodermal activity. In Martin, I. & Venables, P. H. (Eds.), Techniques in psychophysiology (pp. 3–67). London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Venables, P. H., & Mitchell, D. A. (1996). The effects of age, sex and time of testing on skin conductance activity. Biological Psychology, 43, 87–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weems, C. F., Zakem, A. H., Costa, N. M., Cannon, M. F., & Watts, S. E. (2005). Physiological response and childhood anxiety: Association with symptoms of anxiety disorders and cognitive bias. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 712–723.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitson, S., & El-Sheikh, M. (2003). Marital conflict and health: Processes and protective factors. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 8, 283–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willemen, A. M., Schuengel, C., & Koot, H. M. (2009). Physiological regulation of stress in referred adolescents: The role of the parent–adolescent relationship. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 482–490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wootton, J. W., Frick, P. J., Shelton, K. K., & Silverthorn, P. (1997). Ineffective parenting and childhood conduct problems: The moderating role of callous-unemotional traits. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 301–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed