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Parenting behaviors and vagal tone at six months predict attachment disorganization at twelve months
Author(s) -
Holochwost Steven J.,
Gariépy JeanLouis,
Propper Cathi B.,
MillsKoonce W. Roger,
Moore Ginger A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21221
Subject(s) - vagal tone , psychology , developmental psychology , strange situation , context (archaeology) , tone (literature) , audiology , medicine , attachment theory , heart rate variability , heart rate , paleontology , art , literature , blood pressure , biology
The authors investigated the relationships among parenting behaviors, infant vagal tone, and subsequent attachment classification. Vagal tone was assessed among 6‐month olds ( n = 95) during the still‐face paradigm (SFP) via respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), while attachment security and disorganization were measured at 12 months during the strange situation procedure (SSP). Infants demonstrating higher levels of RSA during the normal interaction and reunion episodes of the SFP whose mothers were also rated as negative‐intrusive exhibited higher levels of attachment disorganization at 12 months, while infants with lower RSA and mothers who were negative‐intrusive did not exhibit higher levels of disorganization. These results suggest that high levels of RSA may not be adaptive within the context of negative‐intrusive parenting. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 56: 1423–1430, 2014.