A context-dependent model of resilient functioning after childhood maltreatment-the case for flexible biobehavioral synchrony

Abstract

Many children who experience childhood adversity, whether in the form of threat or deprivation, develop adaptive competencies that lead to resilient functioning. Still, research has not succeeded in accurately predicting the level of resilient functioning by any kind of biomarkers, likely because it has sidelined the flexibility inherent in a construct that is situationally and developmentally variable. Whilst recent research acknowledges the importance of redefining resilience in order to reflect its dynamic nature after adversity, evidence for specific behaviors that are developmentally adaptive and dynamic throughout the lifespan is limited. We here propose a model in which resilient functioning is crucially dependent on the individual's capability to flexibly synchronize with and segregate from another's cognitive-affective, behavioral, and physiological states, known as 'biobehavioral synchrony'. Such an adaptive interpersonal skill is rooted in (a) the early caregiving experience and its regulatory effects on an individual's physiological stress reactivity, as well as (b) the development of self-other distinction which can be affected by childhood maltreatment. Bridging the gap between accounts of flexible resilient functioning and the latest thinking in biobehavioral synchrony, we will review behavioral and neurobiological evidence that threat and deprivation in childhood interfere with the development of dynamic, context-sensitive boundaries between self and other, mediated by the (right) tempo-parietal junction (a central neural hub for interpersonal synchronization), which puts the individual at risk for affective fusion or cut-off from others' arousal states. Our proposed model charts a path for investigating the differential effects of maltreatment experiences and mechanisms for intergenerational transmission of non-sensitive caregiving. We conclude with metrics, data analysis methods, and strategies to facilitate flexible biobehavioral synchrony.

Fig. 1. Flexible biobehavioral synchrony enabled by the maturation of SOD over the lifespan.

Figure 1 depicts the trajectories of flexible biobehavioural synchrony and the development of SOD as dynamic processes indexing RF over the lifespan. Strongly coupled synchrony in early infancy, mediated by a blurring of the boundary between the infant (self) and their primary caregiver (other), enabled by sensitive caregiving and co-regulation, which in turn fosters the development of both the infant's stress-coping and interpersonal skills. Beginning in childhood and culminating in later adolescence (when necessary individuation processes take place), positive synchrony alternates increasingly with moments of significant misalignment and uncoupling. These moments of rupture and repair provide the necessary context-dependent experience for the TPJ to master flexible switching between representations of self and other, ultimately establishing the basis for the ability to align (synchronize) and retract (segregate) from another person’s mental, and behavioral and physiological arousal state in adulthood in a dynamic and context-sensitive manner.

Fig. 2. Flexible biobehavioral synchrony processes altered by childhood maltreatment in the form of threat and deprivation.

Figure 2 depicts the hypothesized effects of maltreatment on the development (infancy—childhood) and deployment (adulthood) of flexible biobehavioral synchrony (biobehavioral synchrony). We suggest the potential for threat and deprivation to exert differential effects on biobehavioral synchrony depending on whether (i.) violations of the self–other boundary have occurred that hindered the development of a clear distinction of self from other (e.g., sexual, emotional, and physical abuse), in turn increasing the risk for maladaptive affective merging (fusion) throughout the lifespan or whether (ii.) experiences of blurring of the SOD have been limited which can increase the risk for rigid, inflexible synchrony and potential affective cut-off. We suggest that rigid affective merging and cut-off are exaggerated responses on the continuum of synchrony and segregation.

Fig. 3. A context-dependent and value-based model of resilience facilitation through flexible biobehavioral synchrony after maltreatment.

Figure 3 shows our proposed model in which RF is crucially dependent on the individual’s capability to flexibly synchronize with and segregate from another’s cognitive-affective, behavioral, and physiological states, known as ‘biobehavioral synchrony’. Such an adaptive interpersonal skill is rooted in i. the early caregiving experience and its regulatory effects on an individual’s physiological stress reactivity, as well as ii. the development of SOD which can be affected by childhood maltreatment. Flexible biobehavioral synchrony exerts its effects on RF in direct (i.e., synchrony profiles guided by cost-benefit analyses), as well as indirect ways (e.g., interplay with an individual’s neural function and social architecture). Assuming a cascading effect on domains of SOD we hypothesize that experiences of maltreatment impact an individual’s capacity to flexibly deploy interpersonal synchrony according to situational and developmental demand (synching or segregating), increasing the risk for emotional fusion or cut-off with others and subsequent relational difficulties and stress throughout an individual’s life.