Dann Yael, Egotubov Alisa, Gordon Hecker Avigail, Sheiner Eyal, Uzefovsky Florina, Gueron Sela Noa
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Psychophysiology. 2025 Feb;62(2):e14737. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14737. Epub 2024 Dec 10.
Children with specific psychophysiological profiles may be more strongly affected by adverse environmental experiences. Guided by a biopsychosocial perspective, we examined whether infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic functioning, moderates the associations between paternal postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms and infants' observed empathy-related responses. Participants were 142 families with infants (51% female) assessed at two time points. At T1 (3 months of age), fathers reported their depressive symptoms. Infants' cardiac activity was recorded during rest and estimates of RSA were calculated. In addition, infants' empathy-related responses during a maternal distress simulation were observed and rated at T2 (12 months of age). Higher paternal PPD at T1 predicted higher infant affective (i.e., affective concern) and cognitive (i.e., inquiring behaviors) responses to maternal distress at T2. Infant RSA moderated this relationship for cognitive responses, with a significant positive association only for children with high or average RSA. These findings contribute to the understanding of the psychophysiological mechanisms that support empathy development.
具有特定心理生理特征的儿童可能更容易受到不良环境经历的影响。在生物心理社会视角的指导下，我们研究了作为副交感神经功能指标的婴儿呼吸性窦性心律不齐（RSA）是否会调节父亲产后抑郁症（PPD）症状与婴儿观察到的共情相关反应之间的关联。研究对象为142个有婴儿的家庭（51%为女性），在两个时间点进行了评估。在T1（3个月大时），父亲报告他们的抑郁症状。在婴儿休息时记录其心脏活动，并计算RSA估计值。此外，在T2（12个月大时）观察并评估婴儿在模拟母亲痛苦情境中的共情相关反应。T1时父亲较高的PPD水平预测了T2时婴儿对母亲痛苦的更高情感（即情感关注）和认知（即询问行为）反应。婴儿RSA调节了这种认知反应的关系，仅对RSA高或中等的儿童存在显著正相关。这些发现有助于理解支持共情发展的心理生理机制。
