Attachment and emotion regulation in middle childhood: changes in affect and vagal tone during a social stress task

In middle childhood, more securely attached children show better emotion regulation when assessed as general tendencies (e.g. coping style), but studies looking at emotion in response to specific stressors have revealed mixed results. This study examined how attachment security, avoidance, and ambiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Attachment & human development 2017-06, Vol.19 (3), p.221-242
Main Authors: Movahed Abtahi, Mahsa, Kerns, Kathryn A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological
Affect - physiology
Animals
Attachment
Autonomic Nervous System - physiology
Child
Child development
Child psychology
emotion regulation
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Female
Heart Rate
HF-HRV
Humans
Male
Object Attachment
Pets - psychology
RSA
Sex Factors
Single-Blind Method
Social Behavior
Stress
Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
Vagus Nerve - physiology
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Summary:In middle childhood, more securely attached children show better emotion regulation when assessed as general tendencies (e.g. coping style), but studies looking at emotion in response to specific stressors have revealed mixed results. This study examined how attachment security, avoidance, and ambivalence - assessed with a story stem task (99 children, 9-11 years old) - relate to dynamic indices of affective and autonomic responses (baseline, reactivity, recovery). Reports of positive and negative affect, and high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), were assessed during a social stressor task. Securely attached children did not show reactivity effects, although they did show greater recovery of positive affect after the task ended. Avoidant children showed both less reactivity and recovery of negative affect, suggesting a dampened emotional response. Ambivalent children showed more reactivity and more recovery of negative affect. Autonomic response changes were only evident for ambivalent children, who showed less suppression of HF-HRV variability under stress.
ISSN:1461-6734
1469-2988
DOI:10.1080/14616734.2017.1291696