Parasympathetic regulation in cognitive and emotional challenge contexts differentially predicts specific aspects of children’s emotional functioning

Abstract

Parasympathetic regulation has been consistently linked with better emotional functioning in childhood, but it is still not clear if parasympathetic regulation serves as a transcontextual marker of adaptive emotional functioning or if this link is context‐specific. This study tested this by examining the specificity of the relation between parasympathetic regulation in distinct types of challenge tasks and different aspects of children's emotional functioning. Emotional functioning included parent‐reported emotional reactivity, parent‐reported general emotion regulation ability, and child‐reported emotion regulation strategy knowledge. One hundred and forty‐four 4‐ to 9‐year‐olds (M = 6.88 years; SD = 1.80; 52% girls) participated in a cognitive (inhibitory control) and two discrete emotional (disappointing, fear‐eliciting) challenges. Resting and reactive indices of respiratory sinus arrhythmia quantified parasympathetic regulation. Emotional reactivity was predicted by parasympathetic regulation during the cognitive challenge, general emotion regulation was predicted by regulation during the fear‐eliciting task, and emotion regulation strategy knowledge was predicted by regulation during the disappointment task. Results highlight the importance of considering task context in investigations of how parasympathetic regulation relates to children's functioning.

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