title: Parenting stressors and young adolescents' depressive symptoms: Does high vagal suppression offer protection?
abstract: Grounded in a dual-risk, biosocial perspective of developmental psychopathology, this study examined the role of higher vagal suppression in providing young adolescents protection from four parenting stressors. It was expected that lower vagal suppression would increase youth vulnerability to the deleterious effects of these parenting stressors. Depressive symptoms were examined as a central marker of socioemotional difficulties during early adolescence. The four parenting stressors examined were interparental hostility, maternal use of harsh discipline, maternal inconsistent discipline, and maternal psychological control. Participants were 68 young adolescents (Grade 6) and their mothers. Greater vagal suppression provided protection (i.e., lower depressive symptoms) from interparental hostility, harsh discipline, and maternal psychological control for boys but not for girls.
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Human Development & Family Studies, 228 Stone Building, HDFS, United States. Electronic address: acfletch@uncg.edu.
authors.forename: Anne C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Human Development & Family Studies, 228 Stone Building, HDFS, United States.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buehler
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest University, United States.
authors.forename: Christy M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Buchanan
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Human Development & Family Studies, 228 Stone Building, HDFS, United States.
authors.forename: Bridget B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Weymouth
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Adolescents; Depression; Gender; Parenting; Vagal suppression; Vagal withdrawal