Gray Sarah A O, Miller Jonas G, Glackin Erin B, Hatch Virginia, Drury Stacy S
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Sciences Center, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2025 Jul;66(7):956-966. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.14108. Epub 2024 Dec 26.
Family environment plays a critical role in shaping stress response systems. Concordance between mothers' and children's physiological states, specifically their Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), reflects dyadic co-regulation. Negative or weakened RSA synchrony during interactions is linked to various psychosocial risks, but existing research has focused on risks in the mother or child as opposed to the dyad. This study examined the association between maternal-child RSA synchrony and maternal ACEs, given documented associations with offspring RSA, as well as more proximal documented risks, including maternal psychopathology and children's early adversity and psychopathology. Given that sensitive parent-child relationships are a powerful source of resilience, we tested whether parent-child relationship quality buffered associations between maternal ACEs and RSA synchrony.
In a community sample of mother-child dyads experiencing high sociodemographic risk and oversampled for exposure to adversity, mothers (n = 123) reported on their ACEs (43.1% ≥4), their 3-5-year-old children's exposure to violence, and psychological symptoms. Dyads completed a puzzle task while EKG was recorded, from which maternal and child RSA was derived; parent-child relationship quality during interactions was coded observationally. Multilevel models examined within-dyad mother-child RSA synchrony across the interaction and between-dyad predictors of synchrony.
Parent-child relationship quality and maternal ACEs co-contributed to offspring and dyadic physiology. Maternal ACEs predicted dampened RSA in the child and dampened RSA synchrony in the dyad, only among dyads with low observer-rated parent-child relationship quality during the interaction. In other words, high-quality parent-child relationship quality buffered the association between maternal ACEs and dampened offspring and dyadic physiology.
Results suggest that mothers' early adversity may disrupt physiological regulation at both the individual child and dyadic level. High-quality parent-child relationships mitigated this effect.
家庭环境在塑造应激反应系统中起着关键作用。母亲与孩子生理状态之间的一致性，特别是他们的呼吸性窦性心律不齐（RSA），反映了二元共同调节。互动过程中RSA同步性的负面或减弱与各种心理社会风险相关，但现有研究主要关注母亲或孩子个体的风险，而非二元关系中的风险。鉴于有记录表明母亲的童年不良经历（ACEs）与后代的RSA有关，以及更近端的有记录的风险，包括母亲的精神病理学、孩子早期的逆境和精神病理学，本研究考察了母婴RSA同步性与母亲ACEs之间的关联。鉴于敏感的亲子关系是恢复力的强大来源，我们测试了亲子关系质量是否缓冲了母亲ACEs与RSA同步性之间的关联。
在一个社会人口统计学风险高且因接触逆境而过度抽样的母婴二元组社区样本中，母亲（n = 123）报告了她们的ACEs（43.1%≥4）、3至5岁孩子接触暴力的情况以及心理症状。二元组在完成拼图任务时记录心电图，从中得出母婴的RSA；互动过程中的亲子关系质量通过观察进行编码。多层次模型考察了互动过程中二元组内母婴RSA同步性以及同步性的二元组间预测因素。
亲子关系质量和母亲的ACEs共同影响后代和二元组的生理状态。母亲的ACEs仅在互动过程中观察者评定的亲子关系质量低的二元组中，预测孩子的RSA减弱和二元组中RSA同步性减弱。换句话说，高质量的亲子关系质量缓冲了母亲ACEs与后代和二元组生理状态减弱之间的关联。
结果表明，母亲早期的逆境可能会破坏个体孩子和二元组层面的生理调节。高质量的亲子关系减轻了这种影响。
