Woody Mary L, Feurer Cope, Sosoo Effua E, Hastings Paul D, Gibb Brandon E
Center for Affective Science, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2016 Jul;57(7):843-50. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12562. Epub 2016 Apr 19.
Family environment plays an important role in the intergenerational transmission of major depressive disorder (MDD), but less is known about how day-to-day mother-child interactions may be disrupted in families with a history of MDD. Disruptions in mother-child synchrony, the dynamic and convergent exchange of physiological and behavioral cues during interactions, may be one important risk factor. Although maternal MDD is associated with a lack of mother-child synchrony at the behavioral level, no studies have examined the impact of maternal MDD on physiological synchrony. Therefore, this study examined whether maternal history of MDD moderates mother-child physiological synchrony [measured via respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)] during positive and negative discussions.
Children aged 7-11 years and mothers with either a history of MDD during the child's lifetime (n = 44) or no lifetime diagnosis of any mood disorder (n = 50) completed positive and negative discussion tasks while RSA was continuously recorded for both child and mother.
Results indicated significant between-dyad and within-dyad group differences in physiological synchrony during positive and negative discussions. Between-dyad analyses revealed evidence of synchrony only among never depressed dyads, among whom higher average mother RSA during both discussions was associated with higher average child RSA. Within-dyad analyses revealed that never depressed dyads displayed positive synchrony (RSA concordance), whereas dyads with a history of maternal MDD displayed negative synchrony (RSA discordance) during the negative discussion and that the degree of negative synchrony exhibited during the negative discussion was associated with mothers' and children's levels of sadness.
These results provide preliminary evidence that physiological synchrony is disrupted in families with a history of maternal MDD and may be a potential risk factor for the intergenerational transmission of depression.
家庭环境在重度抑郁症（MDD）的代际传递中起着重要作用，但对于有MDD病史的家庭中日常母子互动如何受到干扰，我们了解得较少。母子同步性的破坏，即互动过程中生理和行为线索的动态且趋同的交流，可能是一个重要的风险因素。虽然母亲患MDD与行为层面的母子同步性缺乏有关，但尚无研究考察母亲患MDD对生理同步性的影响。因此，本研究考察了母亲的MDD病史是否会在积极和消极讨论期间调节母子生理同步性[通过呼吸性窦性心律不齐（RSA）来衡量]。
7至11岁的儿童以及在孩子一生中患有MDD病史的母亲（n = 44）或终生未被诊断出任何情绪障碍的母亲（n = 50）完成了积极和消极讨论任务，同时持续记录孩子和母亲的RSA。
结果表明，在积极和消极讨论期间，生理同步性在二元组间和二元组内均存在显著差异。二元组间分析显示，只有从未患抑郁症的二元组存在同步性证据，在这两组讨论中，母亲平均RSA较高与孩子平均RSA较高相关。二元组内分析显示，从未患抑郁症的二元组在消极讨论期间表现出正向同步性（RSA一致性），而有母亲患MDD病史的二元组在消极讨论期间表现出负向同步性（RSA不一致性），并且消极讨论期间表现出的负向同步程度与母亲和孩子的悲伤程度相关。
这些结果提供了初步证据，表明有母亲患MDD病史的家庭中生理同步性受到破坏，并且可能是抑郁症代际传递的一个潜在风险因素。
