Kalvin Carla B, Bierman Karen L, Gatzke-Kopp Lisa M
The Pennsylvania State University, 140 Moore Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
The Pennsylvania State University, 315 HHD East, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2016 Nov;44(8):1527-1541. doi: 10.1007/s10802-016-0139-7.
Prior research suggests that heightened emotional reactivity to emotionally distressing stimuli may be associated with elevated internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and contribute to impaired social functioning. These links were explored in a sample of 169 economically-disadvantaged kindergarteners (66 % male; 68 % African American, 22 % Hispanic, 10 % Caucasian) oversampled for elevated aggression. Physiological measures of emotional reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA], heart rate [HR], and cardiac pre-ejection period [PEP]) were collected, and teachers and peers provided ratings of externalizing and internalizing behavior, prosocial competence, and peer rejection. RSA withdrawal, HR reactivity, and PEP shortening (indicating increased arousal) were correlated with reduced prosocial competence, and RSA withdrawal and HR reactivity were correlated with elevated internalizing problems. HR reactivity was also correlated with elevated externalizing problems and peer rejection. Linear regressions controlling for age, sex, race, verbal proficiency, and resting physiology showed that HR reactivity explained unique variance in both teacher-rated prosocial competence and peer rejection, and contributed indirectly to these outcomes through pathways mediated by internalizing and externalizing problems. A trend also emerged for the unique contribution of PEP reactivity to peer-rated prosocial competence. These findings support the contribution of emotional reactivity to behavior problems and social adjustment among children living in disadvantaged urban contexts, and further suggest that elevated reactivity may confer risk for social difficulties in ways that overlap only partially with internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.
先前的研究表明，对情绪困扰刺激的情绪反应增强可能与内化和外化行为增加有关，并导致社会功能受损。在169名经济条件不利的幼儿园儿童样本中探讨了这些联系（66%为男性；68%为非裔美国人，22%为西班牙裔，10%为白人），该样本因攻击行为增加而进行了过度抽样。收集了情绪反应的生理指标（呼吸性窦性心律不齐[RSA]、心率[HR]和心脏射血前期[PEP]），教师和同伴对儿童的外化和内化行为、亲社会能力和同伴排斥进行了评分。RSA下降、HR反应性和PEP缩短（表明唤醒增加）与亲社会能力下降相关，RSA下降和HR反应性与内化问题增加相关。HR反应性也与外化问题增加和同伴排斥相关。控制年龄、性别、种族、语言能力和静息生理状态的线性回归分析表明，HR反应性解释了教师评定的亲社会能力和同伴排斥中的独特变异，并通过内化和外化问题介导的途径间接导致了这些结果。PEP反应性对同伴评定的亲社会能力的独特贡献也出现了一种趋势。这些发现支持了情绪反应性对生活在弱势城市环境中的儿童行为问题和社会适应的影响，进一步表明反应性增强可能以仅部分与内化和外化行为问题重叠的方式带来社会困难的风险。
