Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.
Dev Psychobiol. 2019 Dec;61(8):1168-1179. doi: 10.1002/dev.21862. Epub 2019 May 12.
This study examined the concurrent associations linking youths' parasympathetic nervous system activity, specifically baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (RSAR; vagal withdrawal), with youth depression risk in a community sample of young adolescents. Youth gender was examined as a moderator of associations. Participants included 100 youth (53% boys; M age = 11.05 years, SD = 0.33; 43% ethnic minorities), along with their mothers and teachers. Youth and mothers participated in a laboratory protocol involving a peer problem-solving conversation, during which youths' physiological activity was measured. Youth reported on their depressive symptoms. Teachers reported on youth depression risk via internalizing symptoms and emotion regulation (e.g., emotion lability/negativity). Results from regression analyses revealed that youths' vagal withdrawal during the mother-youth peer problem conversation was associated with lower youth-reported depressive symptoms. Further, gender moderated the associations linking youth baseline RSA and RSAR with youth depression risk. Specifically, among girls but not boys, higher baseline RSA was associated with lower depressive symptoms and emotion lability/negativity, and higher RSAR (i.e., vagal withdrawal) was linked with lower internalizing symptoms. Findings contribute to the relatively small literature linking youth parasympathetic functioning with depression risk, and point to specific implications for girls.
本研究考察了青少年副交感神经系统活动（特别是基线呼吸窦性心律失常（RSA）和呼吸窦性心律失常反应性（RSAR；迷走神经张力下降））与青少年抑郁风险的并发关联，该研究采用的是社区内青少年的样本。研究还检验了青少年性别在这些关联中的调节作用。研究对象包括 100 名青少年（53%为男性；平均年龄为 11.05 岁，标准差为 0.33；43%为少数族裔），以及他们的母亲和教师。青少年及其母亲参与了一个实验室方案，包括与同伴进行解决问题的对话，在此过程中测量了青少年的生理活动。青少年报告了他们的抑郁症状。教师则通过内化症状和情绪调节（例如，情绪不稳定性/消极性）来报告青少年的抑郁风险。回归分析的结果表明，在母亲与青少年同伴解决问题的对话中，青少年的迷走神经张力下降与青少年报告的抑郁症状减少有关。此外，性别调节了青少年基线 RSA 和 RSAR 与青少年抑郁风险之间的关联。具体来说，在女孩中，但不在男孩中，较高的基线 RSA 与较低的抑郁症状和情绪不稳定性/消极性以及较高的 RSAR（即迷走神经张力下降）有关，而较高的 RSAR 则与较低的内化症状有关。这些发现丰富了与青少年副交感神经功能与抑郁风险相关的文献，并且对女孩具有特定的启示。
