Autonomic nervous system activity moderates associations between temperament and externalizing behaviors in early childhood

Abstract

Temperamental risk, such as surgency, negative affect, and poor effortful control, has been posited as a predictor of externalizing symptom development. However, autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity underlying processes of reactivity and regulation may moderate associations between early temperament and later externalizing behaviors during early childhood. The aim of the present study was to examine how interactions between resting sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) activity at age 5 may moderate associations between temperamental risk at age 3 and externalizing behavior at age 6 (n = 87). Results demonstrate different interactions between resting ANS activity and temperamental risk to predict externalizing behaviors. For children with lower SNS activation at rest, surgency was positively associated with externalizing behaviors. Negative affect was positively associated with externalizing behaviors except when there were either high levels of SNS and PNS activity or low levels of SNS and PNS activity. Effortful control was not associated with externalizing behaviors, though SNS and PNS activity interacted to predict externalizing behaviors after accounting for effortful control. Taken together, the results highlight the importance to examine multisystem resting physiological activity as a moderator of associations between temperamental risk and the development of externalizing behaviors.

Keywords: autonomic nervous system; externalizing behaviors; pre-ejection period; respiratory sinus arrhythmia; temperament.

FIGURE 1

Line graph showing the interaction between surgency and PEP to predict externalizing behaviors. Simple slopes testing show that the association between surgency and externalizing scores are significant for children with long resting PEP (+1 SD).

FIGURE 2

Line graphs showing the association between negative affect and externalizing behaviors by PEP length and RSA. The graph on the left is at lower levels of RSA (−1 SD below the mean), and the graph on the right is at higher levels of RSA (+1 SD above the mean). Simple slopes testing shows that the associations between negative affect and externalizing scores are significant for children with low RSA and short resting PEP, low RSA and average resting PEP, high RSA and long resting PEP, and high RSA and average resting PEP.

FIGURE 3

Associations between child resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and externalizing behaviors moderated by PEP length. Simple slopes testing shows that resting RSA and externalizing scores are significantly associated for children with short resting PEP (+1 SD).