Intrinsic and Extrinsic Effects on Trajectories of Infants' Vagal Functioning

描述(由申请人提供)：状态、运动和情绪控制所必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，这些过程对它们的功能起作用。在现有文献中被广泛研究的调节行为的一个特定的心理生理学相关性是心率变异性或迷走神经张力。儿童的低心率变异性与不良适应结局相关(即品行障碍；Pine等人，1996)，而高心率变异性与更好的社交能力相关(Eisenberg等人，1995)。因此，了解迷走神经张力从婴儿期到儿童期的发展轨迹，以及它是如何影响和影响发展的，是至关重要的。目前应用的目标是1)检查3个月至3岁婴儿迷走神经张力和迷走神经纵向调节的稳定性，2)检查婴儿对挑战任务的行为反应和迷走神经反应之间的一致性，3)检查婴儿的内源性因素(即气质)和外源性因素(即母亲的敏感性)随时间对迷走神经轨迹的影响，4)检查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)检查基线迷走神经张力和迷走神经退出轨迹作为社会情绪功能的预测因子，由36，48，60个月大。达勒姆儿童健康和发展研究拥有七个时间点(3、6、12、18、24、30和36个月)的199名婴儿及其家人的人口统计、产妇报告、行为和生理数据。在每次访问中，在各种旨在引发婴儿负面反应和调节的挑战任务之前、期间和之后立即测量婴儿的迷走神经张力和行为反应。此外，在自由游戏和拼图任务中，母亲对她的婴儿的行为被录像下来，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。拟议的分析将使我们能够检查迷走神经张力在最初三年的发展，作为典型和非典型社会情绪结果的预测因子。与公共健康的相关性：这项拟议的研究旨在对婴儿出生后头三年心率变异性(即迷走神经张力)的发展和迷走神经张力的调节进行纵向分析。这种生理系统可能是情绪调节和执行功能过程的基础，并与儿童的积极和不适应行为结果有关。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(如过渡到学校)以及在同龄人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.