TY - JOUR
T1 - Respiratory sinus arrhythmia, parenting, and externalizing behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder
AU - Baker, Jason K.
AU - Fenning, Rachel M.
AU - Erath, Stephen A.
AU - Baucom, Brian R.
AU - Messinger, Daniel S.
AU - Moffitt, Jacquelyn
AU - Kaeppler, Alexander
AU - Bailey, Alyssa
N1 - Funding Information:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5172-1420 Baker Jason K 1 Fenning Rachel M 1 Erath Stephen A 2 Baucom Brian R 3 Messinger Daniel S 4 Moffitt Jacquelyn 1 Kaeppler Alexander 2 Bailey Alyssa 1 1 California State University, Fullerton, USA 2 Auburn University, USA 3 The University of Utah, USA 4 University of Miami, USA Jason K Baker, California State University, Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd. EC, Fullerton, CA 92831, USA. Email: jbaker@fullerton.edu 1 2020 24 1 109 120 © The Author(s) 2019 2019 The National Autistic Society, SAGE Publications Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit significant difficulties with emotion regulation. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a biomarker for processes related to emotion regulation, with higher baseline rates linked to beneficial outcomes. Although reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia in response to challenge can index adaptive processes in community samples, excessive withdrawal may suggest loss of regulatory control among children with clinical concerns. Psychophysiological risk for problems may be protected against or exacerbated by parenting environments more or less supportive of the development of children’s regulatory competence. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was examined in 61 children with autism spectrum disorder ages 6–10 years in relation to externalizing behavior, and parenting was considered as a moderator. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was obtained during laboratory tasks, and positive parenting, negative parenting, and children’s externalizing behaviors were each indexed through multiple methods. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity interacted with negative, but not positive parenting. Higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity was associated with more externalizing behavior under conditions of higher negative parenting, but with lower externalizing behavior at lower levels of negative parenting. Similarly, negative parenting was only associated with externalizing behaviors in the context of high child respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity. Implications for our understanding of emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder, and for related interventions, are discussed. autism spectrum disorder emotion regulation externalizing behavior problems parenting psychophysiology respiratory sinus arrhythmia eunice kennedy shriver national institute of child health and human development https://doi.org/10.13039/100009633 R15HD087877 typesetter ts1 We thank Mariann Howland, Meghan Orr, David Huynh, Caitlyn Kelleher, Kerensa Jorgenson, Brandon Lacey, Marison Lee, Arielle Garcia, Alex Gant, Shivani Patel, Karrie Tran, Jasmine Gonzalez, Kyra Da Silva Colaco, Lauren Richardson, and the staff and families of the Autism Emotion and the Family Project. Jacquelyn Moffitt is now at the University of Miami and Alyssa Bailey is now at Auburn University. Declaration of conflicting interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was funded by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R15HD087877) awarded to the first two authors. ORCID iD Jason K Baker https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5172-1420
Funding Information:
We thank Mariann Howland, Meghan Orr, David Huynh, Caitlyn Kelleher, Kerensa Jorgenson, Brandon Lacey, Marison Lee, Arielle Garcia, Alex Gant, Shivani Patel, Karrie Tran, Jasmine Gonzalez, Kyra Da Silva Colaco, Lauren Richardson, and the staff and families of the Autism Emotion and the Family Project. Jacquelyn Moffitt is now at the University of Miami and Alyssa Bailey is now at Auburn University. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was funded by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R15HD087877) awarded to the first two authors.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit significant difficulties with emotion regulation. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a biomarker for processes related to emotion regulation, with higher baseline rates linked to beneficial outcomes. Although reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia in response to challenge can index adaptive processes in community samples, excessive withdrawal may suggest loss of regulatory control among children with clinical concerns. Psychophysiological risk for problems may be protected against or exacerbated by parenting environments more or less supportive of the development of children’s regulatory competence. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was examined in 61 children with autism spectrum disorder ages 6–10 years in relation to externalizing behavior, and parenting was considered as a moderator. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was obtained during laboratory tasks, and positive parenting, negative parenting, and children’s externalizing behaviors were each indexed through multiple methods. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity interacted with negative, but not positive parenting. Higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity was associated with more externalizing behavior under conditions of higher negative parenting, but with lower externalizing behavior at lower levels of negative parenting. Similarly, negative parenting was only associated with externalizing behaviors in the context of high child respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity. Implications for our understanding of emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder, and for related interventions, are discussed.
AB - Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit significant difficulties with emotion regulation. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a biomarker for processes related to emotion regulation, with higher baseline rates linked to beneficial outcomes. Although reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia in response to challenge can index adaptive processes in community samples, excessive withdrawal may suggest loss of regulatory control among children with clinical concerns. Psychophysiological risk for problems may be protected against or exacerbated by parenting environments more or less supportive of the development of children’s regulatory competence. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was examined in 61 children with autism spectrum disorder ages 6–10 years in relation to externalizing behavior, and parenting was considered as a moderator. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was obtained during laboratory tasks, and positive parenting, negative parenting, and children’s externalizing behaviors were each indexed through multiple methods. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity interacted with negative, but not positive parenting. Higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity was associated with more externalizing behavior under conditions of higher negative parenting, but with lower externalizing behavior at lower levels of negative parenting. Similarly, negative parenting was only associated with externalizing behaviors in the context of high child respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity. Implications for our understanding of emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder, and for related interventions, are discussed.
KW - autism spectrum disorder
KW - emotion regulation
KW - externalizing behavior problems
KW - parenting
KW - psychophysiology
KW - respiratory sinus arrhythmia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077016793&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85077016793&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1362361319848525
DO - 10.1177/1362361319848525
M3 - Article
C2 - 31122030
AN - SCOPUS:85077016793
VL - 24
SP - 109
EP - 120
JO - Autism
JF - Autism
SN - 1362-3613
IS - 1
ER -