title: Links between adolescent sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system functioning and interpersonal behavior over time.
abstract: Extensive research has investigated links between individual differences in youths' autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning and psychological outcomes related to emotion regulation, yet little of this research has examined developmental change. The study tested whether individual differences in youths' tonic and stress-induced ANS functioning, assessed at age 14, and changes in ANS functioning from age 14 to 16 predicted corresponding changes in youths' behavioral warmth, as displayed during videotaped mother-child conflict interactions conducted at age 14 and 16. Increased behavioral warmth was predicted by increased baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), increased SCL stress reactivity, decreased RSA stress reactivity (i.e., greater vagal suppression), and decreased baseline SCL. There was also an interaction between RSA stress reactivity at age 14 and changes in maternal warmth from age 14 to 16, such that increased maternal warmth was only associated with increased adolescent warmth for adolescents with lower RSA stress reactivity at age 14.
authors.affiliation: University of Utah, USA. diamond@psych.utah.edu
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Diamond
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Cribbet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors