Intrinsic and Extrinsic Effects on Trajectories of Infants' Vagal Functioning

描述（由申请人提供）：状态、运动和情绪控制所需的调节行为的发展可能在副交感神经系统中有某些潜在的生理过程，这些生理过程在它们的功能中起作用。在现有文献中已被广泛研究的调节行为的一个特定的心理生理关联是心率变异性或迷走神经张力。儿童的低心率变异性与适应不良有关（即行为障碍；Pine等，1996），而高心率变异性与更好的社会能力有关（Eisenberg等，1995）。因此，了解迷走神经张力从婴儿期到儿童期的轨迹以及它如何影响和受发展的影响是至关重要的。当前应用的目标是1)纵向检查3个月至3岁婴儿迷走神经张力基线和迷走神经调节的稳定性，2)检查婴儿对挑战性任务的行为和迷走神经反应之间的一致性，3)检查内源性因素（即气质）和外源性因素（即母亲敏感性）随时间对婴儿迷走神经轨迹的影响。4)研究与种族和家庭收入相关的因素作为迷走神经轨迹的预测因子；5)研究基线迷走神经张力和迷走神经撤退轨迹作为社会情绪功能的预测因子，通过母亲在36、48和60个月时的报告进行评估。Durham儿童健康与发展研究收集了199名婴儿及其家庭在7个时间点（3、6、12、18、24、30和36个月）的人口统计、产妇报告、行为和生理数据。在每次访问中，婴儿迷走神经张力和行为反应在各种挑战任务之前、期间和之后被测量，这些挑战任务旨在引起婴儿的消极反应和调节。此外，在一个自由游戏和拼图任务中，母亲对婴儿的行为被记录下来，用于行为编码。我们目前对迷走神经张力作为调节功能的生理指标的理解是有限的。重要的是要超越对迷走神经反应的同时评估，并确定随时间发展的模式和轨迹。提出的分析将使我们能够检查前三年迷走神经张力的发展，作为典型和非典型社会情绪结果的预测因子。与公共卫生相关：拟议的研究旨在提供婴儿心率变异性（即迷走神经张力）发展的纵向分析，以及迷走神经张力的调节，贯穿生命的头三年。这种生理系统可能是情绪调节和执行功能过程的基础，并与儿童的积极和适应不良行为结果有关。了解与儿童发展相关的各种儿童和家庭特征，将为在情绪自我调节、对挑战的反应（如向学校过渡）以及在同伴群体中获得社会能力等领域的个体差异提供新的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The development of regulatory behaviors necessary for state, motor, and emotion control may have certain underlying physiological processes in the parasympathetic nervous system that play a role in their functioning. One specific psychophysiological correlate of regulatory behavior that has been extensively studied in the existing literature is that of heart rate variability, or vagal tone. Low heart rate variability in children has been associated with maladaptive outcomes (i.e., conduct disorder; Pine et al., 1996) and high heart rate variability has been associated with better social competence (Eisenberg et al., 1995). Thus, it is critical to understand the trajectory of vagal tone from infancy to childhood and how it both influences and is influenced by development. The objectives of the current application are 1) to examine the stability of baseline vagal tone and vagal regulation longitudinally in infants from 3 months to 3 years of age, 2) to examine the concordance between infants' behavioral and vagal responses to challenge tasks, 3) to examine the influence of factors endogenous (i.e., temperament) and exogenous (i.e., maternal sensitivity) to the infant on vagal trajectories over time, 4) to examine factors related to ethnicity and family income as predictors of vagal trajectories and 5) to examine baseline vagal tone and vagal withdrawal trajectories as predictors of socio-emotional functioning assessed by maternal report at 36, 48, and 60 months of age. The Durham Child Health and Development Study has demographic, maternal report, behavioral, and physiological data on 199 infants and their families at seven time points (3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months). At each visit, infant vagal tone and behavioral response was measured before, during, and immediately following various challenge tasks meant to elicit negative reactivity and regulation from infants. Further, maternal behavior toward her infant during a free play and puzzle task was video recorded for behavioral coding. Our current understanding of vagal tone as a physiological index of regulatory functioning is limited. It is important to move beyond concurrent assessments of vagal response and identify patterns and trajectories that develop over time. The proposed analyses will allow us to examine the development of vagal tone over the first three years as a predictor of typical and atypical socio-emotional outcomes. Relevance to Public Health: The proposed study is designed to provide longitudinal analyses of the development of infant heart rate variability (i.e., vagal tone), and the regulation of vagal tone, across the first three years of life. This physiological system may underlie the processes of emotion regulation and executive functioning and has been associated with both positive and maladaptive behavioral outcomes in children. Understanding the various child and family characteristics that are related to its development will provide new insights into individual differences in such areas as self-regulation of emotion, responses to challenge such as the transition to school, and the acquisition of social competency in peer groups.