Department of Psychology, The University of Georgia.
Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia.
Dev Psychol. 2019 Feb;55(2):366-376. doi: 10.1037/dev0000648. Epub 2018 Dec 3.
Physiological synchrony, or concordance, among caregiver-child dyads involves the matching of biological states. Understanding this process is critical for enhancing our knowledge of the ways that the caregiver-child relationship supports child development. However, the meaning of physiological synchrony for child adjustment is poorly understood. This study examined physiological synchrony in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an indicator of parasympathetic activity, between 87 mothers (M age = 35.30 years, SD = 6.71 years) and their preadolescent children (M age = 10.36 years, SD = 1. 19 years, 52.9% girls). Dyads, all of which were from economically impoverished backgrounds, participated in 3 tasks that varied in the level of interaction that was required between the partners. Mothers self-reported their own depressive symptoms and rated their children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Physiological synchrony was generally strongest in tasks requiring the greatest levels of interaction among partners. Further, RSA synchrony was positive in the context of low levels of maternal depressive and child internalizing symptoms, and negative in the context of high levels of such symptoms, though results varied by task. Child externalizing symptoms did not moderate the RSA concordance process. The results identify both proximal and distal contexts in which physiological synchrony occurs, which ultimately broadens our understanding of the meaning and significance of parent-child physiological synchrony. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
照顾者-儿童对子之间的生理同步性（或协调性）涉及到生物状态的匹配。理解这一过程对于增强我们对照顾者-儿童关系支持儿童发展的方式的认识至关重要。然而，生理同步性对儿童适应的意义还理解得很差。本研究考察了 87 位母亲（M 年龄=35.30 岁，SD=6.71 岁）及其青春期前儿童（M 年龄=10.36 岁，SD=1.19 岁，52.9%为女孩）之间呼吸窦性心律失常（RSA）的生理同步性，RSA 是副交感活动的一个指标。所有的对子都来自经济贫困的背景，他们参与了 3 项任务，这些任务在伙伴之间需要的互动水平上有所不同。母亲自我报告了自己的抑郁症状，并对孩子的外化和内化症状进行了评分。在需要伙伴之间进行最高水平互动的任务中，生理同步性通常最强。此外，在母亲抑郁和儿童内化症状水平较低的情况下，RSA 同步性呈正相关，而在这些症状水平较高的情况下，RSA 同步性呈负相关，但结果因任务而异。儿童外化症状并没有调节 RSA 一致性过程。研究结果确定了生理同步发生的近端和远端环境，这最终拓宽了我们对父母-子女生理同步的意义和重要性的理解。（PsycINFO 数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。
