Marital Conflict and Children's Externalizing Behavior Interactions Between Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Nervous System Activity

by El-Sheikh, Mona; Kouros, Chrystyna D.; Erath, Stephen; Cummings, E. Mark; Keller, Peggy; Staton, Lori; Beauchaine, Theodore P.; Moore, Ginger A.

• ISBN13: 9781405199421
• ISBN10: 1405199423
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-28
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Toward greater specificity in the prediction of externalizing problems in the context of interparental conflict, interactions between children's parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system (PNS and SNS) activity were examined as moderators. PNS activity was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA reactivity (RSA-R) to lab challenges. SNS activity was indexed by skin conductance level (SCL) and SCL reactivity (SCL-R) to lab challenges. Moderation hypotheses were examined in three multi-informant studies with children ranging in age between 7 and 9 in Studies 1 and 2, and between 6 and 12 in Study 3. Findings are robust across studies and provide the first reported evidence of interactions between PNS and SNS activity as moderators of the association between children's exposure to marital conflict and externalizing behaviors. More specifically, opposing action of the PNS and SNS (i.e., coactivation and coinhibition) operated as a vulnerability factor for externalizing behavior in the context of marital conflict. Conversely, coordinated action of the PNS and SNS (i.e., reciprocal PNS or SNS activation) operated as a protective factor. Results are supportive of the authors' proposed biopsychosocial framework in which individual differences in the coordination of the activity of the PNS and SNS can function as vulnerability or protective factors in the context of family risk. Findings extend current theory indicating the importance of multisystem investigations for clarifying inconsistencies and discrepancies in the literature linking environmental stress, physiological responses, and child adjustment.

Author Biography

Mona El-Sheikh (Ph.D., 1989, West Virginia University) is an Alumni Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University. Her research program focuses on associations among family risk, especially destructive marital conflict, and child outcomes across multiple domains. Her research has emphasized a biopsychosocial approach for the development of adjustment, social, cognitive, and physical health problems in the context of family risk, especially assessments of the intervening role of physiological (e.g., autonomic nervous system activity) and biological (e.g., sleep) regulation in the context of family adversity and child development.

Chrystyna D. Kouros (Ph.D., 2008, University of Notre Dame) is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology & Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on the interplay between family processes (e.g., marital functioning) and mental health. Specifically, her research interests include: (a) examining how couples interact during everyday marital disagreements; (b) the impact of marital functioning on spouses' mental health; and (c) children's immediate emotional and behavioral reactions to everyday interparental conflict, including the effects of marital conflict on children's broader adjustment.

Stephen Erath (Ph.D., 2006, Penn State) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University. His research focuses on children's exposure to stress in family and peer relationships, their reactivity to stress and regulation of interpersonal stress, and its implications for social competence.

E. Mark Cummings (Ph.D., 1977, UCLA) is the Professor and Notre Dame Endowed Chair in Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. His research program focuses on the effects of marital conflict on children's emotional and behavioral adjustment, as well as the role of marital conflict in child development in multiple contexts, including parental depression and community violence.

Peggy Keller (Ph.D., 2006, University of Notre Dame) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on the effects of family stress on children's psychological and physical health. Specifically, her research interests include family-level (e.g., marital conflict) and child-level (e.g., physiological reactivity) processes that account for the link between parental psychopathology and children's adjustment problems and risk for overweight. Her research has emphasized a developmental psychopathology perspective.

Lori Staton (M.S., 2005, Auburn University) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University. Her research focuses on the role of physiological regulation and reactivity to stress in the relationship between family stress and child emotional and behavioral adjustment, cognitive functioning, and physical health. Specifically, her research emphasizes parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system functioning.

Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Interactions Among Marital Conflict, Sympathetic, And Parasympathetic Nervous Systems Activity In The Prediction Of Children's Externalizing Problems

Additional Testing Of Three-Way Interactions In An Independent Sample

Additional Consideration Of The Role Of Sympathetic And Parasympathetic Nervous Systems Activity In A Sample Of 6-12-Year-Olds

DISCUSSION

References

Acknowledgments

Commentary

Some Difficulties In Interpreting Psychophysiological Research With Children

When Negative Is Positive

Contributors

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