Biological sensitivity to context as a dyadic construct: An investigation of child–parent RSA synchrony among low-SES youth

Abstract

Abstract Parenting behaviors are significantly linked to youths’ behavioral adjustment, an association that is moderated by youths’ and parents’ self-regulation. The biological sensitivity to context theory suggests that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) indexes youths’ varying susceptibility to rearing contexts. However, self-regulation in the family context is increasingly viewed as a process of “coregulation” that is biologically embedded and involves dynamic Parent×Child interactions. No research thus far has examined physiological synchrony as a dyadic biological context that may moderate associations between parenting behaviors and preadolescent adjustment. Using a two-wave sample of 101 low-socioeconomic status (SES) families (children and caretakers; mean age 10.28 years), we employed multilevel modeling to examine dyadic coregulation during a conflict task, indicated by RSA synchrony, as a moderator of the linkages between observed parenting behaviors and preadolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Results showed that high dyadic RSA synchrony resulted in a multiplicative association between parenting and youth adjustment. High dyadic synchrony intensified the relations between parenting behaviors and youth behavior problems, such that in the context of high dyadic synchrony, positive and negative parenting behaviors were associated with decreased and increased behavioral problems, respectively. Parent–child dyadic RSA synchrony is discussed as a potential biomarker of biological sensitivity in youth.