Doussard-Roosevelt Jane A, Montgomery Lee Anne, Porges Stephen W
Department of Human Development, 3304 Benjamin Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-1131, USA.
Dev Psychobiol. 2003 Nov;43(3):230-42. doi: 10.1002/dev.10136.
The short-term stability of measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), heart period, and salivary cortisol and the relation of these variables to one another and to measures of social competence in kindergartners were examined. Physiological measures were collected during multiple individual sessions with 30 kindergarten children, ages 5 to 6 years. Three sessions were scheduled at 2-week intervals and included a negative affect task as a challenge. Cardiovascular and cortisol responses to the challenge were assessed. Results indicated that baseline measures of RSA and heart period were stable across time. Baseline cortisol levels were not stable. The change in RSA in response to a task that elicited emotional responses was not stable over time. Consistent with findings observed in adults and older children, changes in RSA were related to the cortisol response. Children who increased cortisol over the course of Session 1 exhibited larger decreases in RSA than children who did not show increased cortisol levels. In addition, the children who had larger decreases in RSA had higher ratings of sociability on the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory. Greater decreases in heart period during the task were associated with lower ratings of shyness. The relation of RSA measures to ratings of social competence supports the Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 1995, 2001), which suggests that the ability to engage and disengage with objects and people in one's environment, necessary for social competence, is related to the regulation of vagal control of the heart.
研究了呼吸性窦性心律不齐（RSA）、心搏周期以及唾液皮质醇测量指标的短期稳定性，以及这些变量之间的相互关系，及其与幼儿园儿童社交能力测量指标的关系。对30名5至6岁的幼儿园儿童在多次单独 sessions 期间收集生理测量数据。安排了三次 sessions，间隔为两周，其中包括一项作为挑战的消极情绪任务。评估了心血管和皮质醇对该挑战的反应。结果表明，RSA和心搏周期的基线测量指标随时间稳定。基线皮质醇水平不稳定。对引发情绪反应的任务，RSA的变化随时间不稳定。与在成人和大龄儿童中观察到的结果一致，RSA的变化与皮质醇反应有关。在第1次session过程中皮质醇增加的儿童，其RSA的下降幅度比未表现出皮质醇水平增加的儿童更大。此外，RSA下降幅度较大的儿童在科罗拉多儿童气质量表上的社交性评分更高。任务期间心搏周期下降幅度更大与害羞评分较低相关。RSA测量指标与社交能力评分之间的关系支持了多重迷走神经理论（Porges，1995年，2001年），该理论表明，社交能力所必需的与环境中的物体和人互动和脱离互动的能力，与心脏迷走神经控制的调节有关。
