Devita Sella, Messerli-Bürgy Nadine, Lacroix Alain, Deforges Camille, Bozicevic Laura, Rattaz Valentine, Tolsa Jean-François, Sandoz Vania, Horsch Antje
Institute of Higher Education and Research in Healthcare (IUFRS), University of Lausanne and Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Institute of Psychology, FAmily and DevelOpment research center (FADO), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Infant Behav Dev. 2025 Mar;78:102037. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2025.102037. Epub 2025 Feb 18.
Synchrony in mother-infant interactions is crucial for infant development. However, mother-infant physiological synchrony in the context of maternal childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (CB-PTSS) remains unknown. This pilot study aimed to investigate physiological synchrony within the context of CB-PTSS. Additionally, it investigated the association between mother-infant physiological synchrony and reciprocity. A total of 86 French or English-speaking mothers and their term infants participated in the study. Maternal CB-PTSS was assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), modified for childbirth. Mother-infant dyads were classified into three groups based on their responses to the PCL-5. During mother-infant interactions, physiological synchrony was measured using heart rate variability (HRV), while reciprocity was observed in video recordings. Cross-lagged analysis revealed distinct patterns of HRV fluctuations between mother-infant dyads: positive (mother and infant HRV fluctuated in the same direction) or negative (mother and infant HRV fluctuated in the opposite direction). To avoid canceling out potential effects by averaging the positive and negative correlation coefficients, we analyzed them separately. In positive dyads, maternal HRV led infant HRV by approximately two seconds. Conversely, in negative dyads, there was no significant lag or lead observed in either direction. Our analysis did not reveal a significant impact of CB-PTSS group classification on the physiological synchrony between mothers and their infants. Additionally, we found no significant relation between physiological synchrony and reciprocity within the dyads. We recommend that future studies with a similar focus should control for factors such as individual physiological regulation, maternal anxiety, and maternal depression to further explain these relationships.
母婴互动中的同步性对婴儿发育至关重要。然而，在母亲与分娩相关的创伤后应激症状（CB-PTSS）背景下的母婴生理同步性仍不清楚。这项试点研究旨在调查CB-PTSS背景下的生理同步性。此外，它还研究了母婴生理同步性与互惠性之间的关联。共有86名说法语或英语的母亲及其足月儿参与了该研究。使用针对分娩进行修改的《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第5版创伤后应激障碍检查表（PCL-5）对母亲的CB-PTSS进行评估。母婴二元组根据其对PCL-5的反应分为三组。在母婴互动过程中，使用心率变异性（HRV）测量生理同步性，同时在视频记录中观察互惠性。交叉滞后分析揭示了母婴二元组之间HRV波动的不同模式：正向（母亲和婴儿的HRV同向波动）或负向（母亲和婴儿的HRV反向波动）。为避免通过平均正负相关系数来抵消潜在影响，我们分别对它们进行了分析。在正向二元组中，母亲的HRV比婴儿的HRV领先约两秒。相反，在负向二元组中，在两个方向上均未观察到明显的滞后或领先。我们的分析没有揭示CB-PTSS组分类对母亲与其婴儿之间生理同步性的显著影响。此外，我们发现二元组内生理同步性与互惠性之间没有显著关系。我们建议未来类似重点的研究应控制个体生理调节、母亲焦虑和母亲抑郁等因素，以进一步解释这些关系。
