Developmental psychobiology最新文献

Emotional reactivity is a well-validated corollary of children's risk for internalizing psychopathology and can be indexed by autonomic and behavioral measures. Yet, it is unclear whether and how autonomic and behavioral markers of emotional reactivity interact to characterize internalizing symptoms and whether these associations differ based on emotional context. As such, the current study aimed to (1) clarify associations between autonomic (RSA, PEP) and behavioral measures of emotional reactivity across two tasks designed to elicit fear and positive affect in social contexts and (2) examine the unique and combined associations between autonomic and behavioral reactivity during these tasks and internalizing symptoms. Participants were 328 children aged 6–10 (M = 7.91, SD = 0.97; 50% female; 94% White). Behavioral displays of positive affect during a parent task were associated with RSA withdrawal, but there were no significant associations between autonomic reactivity and behavioral displays of stranger fear. RSA augmentation during the parent task was associated with lower internalizing symptoms at average or high levels of positive affect. Finally, higher stranger fear was associated with higher internalizing symptoms only when coupled with reciprocal parasympathetic activation. These findings suggest context-specific patterns of autonomic activation that are differentially associated with internalizing symptoms.

Adolescence is a period of vulnerability wherein stress can become biologically embedded in ways that impact long-term trajectories of mental and physical health. In particular, stressors are transduced into physiological changes via the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis in ways that can impact both physical and mental health. However, there continues to be uncertainty regarding how to best differentiate and understand well-regulated HPA axis reactivity to stress from dysregulated HPA axis reactivity. One promising approach involves examining multiple biomarkers; indeed, there is evidence that dysregulation of the HPA axis profoundly influences the regulation of the immune system. A cohort of adolescent youth was followed across two ubiquitous stressors—the transition to high school and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nuanced longitudinal associations between HPA axis activity (i.e., cortisol) and immune system activity (i.e., panel of inflammatory markers) were examined. Findings provide evidence of biological specificity wherein HPA axis hyperactivity during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with elevated levels of an empirically derived inflammatory composite, which may be driven by elevations in tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6, and c-reactive protein. The current work advances the literature on allostatic load and the glucocorticoid-resistance model in youth. By extending our current understanding of how stress influences adolescent well-being, it also has important implications for mental and physical health prevention and intervention efforts.

Increasing evidence indicates that psychosis spectrum disorders are neurodevelopmental disorders linked to early life. Motor impairments are proposed as a key early marker of risk for psychosis spectrum disorders. Here, we explored the association between childhood impaired motor development and psychotic experiences (PE) in adolescents. Participants were 658 adolescents from a cohort oversampled on their self-reported emotional and behavioral problems. Parents reported retrospectively on childhood motor development, including onset of walking, aptitude in ballgames, balance, and smoothness of movement. Adolescents completed the Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16) to assess PE at two time points (mean age 14.73 at first measurement and 17.78 at follow-up). Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess associations between childhood impaired motor development and adolescent PE. Childhood impaired motor development was associated with higher levels of adolescent PE (β = 0.23, 95% CI 0.08; 0.38) at age 17, but not at age 15. In addition, motor impairments were associated with an increase in PE between the two time points. This association was especially apparent in hallucinatory experiences (β = 0.26, 95% CI 0.13; 0.39), but not in delusional experiences. Childhood impaired motor development may signal an increased risk for adolescent PE, emphasizing the need for precise assessment tools and further research into these associations. This study supports the notion of psychosis spectrum disorders as neurodevelopmental in nature and highlights the role of early risk markers in identifying these disorders.

Early life adversity has been studied widely, but still understudied is the impact of positive early life experiences. Emerging evidence suggests that humanity's millions-year-old evolved developmental niche (EDN) supports healthy biopsychosocial development. The EDN includes positive touch, responsive relationships, a welcoming social climate, social embeddedness, and self-directed free play. We examined the relation between EDN components and cardiac vagal regulation, the online biomarker for psychopathology, health, and a correlate of positive parenting behaviors.

Women (N = 78; 84% white/Euro-American) self-reported their childhood EDN history, and their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was assessed across non-stimulating and stressful conditions, providing indexes of both cardiac vagal tone and cardiac vagal flexibility. Three latent growth curve models demonstrated that childhood history of social embeddedness and positive home climate outperformed the other EDN components. A higher positive home climate predicted higher cardiac vagal tone, whereas greater social embeddedness predicted vagal flexibility, buffering against stress and supporting faster rates of recovery from stress.

EDN-consistent childhoods, specifically experiencing a positive home climate and social embeddedness, may promote overall cardiac vagal tone and vagal flexibility in women years later. Ecological contexts that support EDN provision may support physiological adaptations that protect against stress and promote stress resilience in adulthood.

The psychological capacity for emotion regulation (ER) facilitates sensitive caregiving and fosters positive child outcomes. Parasympathetic regulation, indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), is an important physiological component of ER. While growing evidence supports the link between parents’ physiological ER and parenting behaviors, few studies distinguish parents’ global ER capacity from ER in parenting-specific contexts, which can provide important insights for intervention. The current study examines the links between parenting behaviors, global ER (operationalized as resting RSA, measured during a baseline task), and parenting-specific ER (operationalized as phasic RSA change, measured during responses to the child-related questions for the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI]). Mothers (N = 169) and their toddlers participated in this study. Parenting behaviors were assessed through a standardized parent–child interaction task, yielding scores for overall parenting behaviors, overall parenting contingency, and specific parenting behaviors. Regression models suggested that resting RSA was positively associated with overall parenting behaviors and contingency, sensitivity to cues, and cognitive growth-fostering. Positive phasic RSA change (i.e., RSA augmentation) was significantly associated with overall parenting behaviors and social–emotional growth-fostering over and above resting RSA. Both global ER and parenting-specific ER may be promising targets for interventions to improve parenting behaviors.