Adolescents at risk of anxiety in interaction with their fathers: youth vagal tone and cardiac synchrony

Abstract

[eng] Background and Objectives. Heart rate variability is considered an indirect measure of vagal function and has found to be diminished in adults with anxiety disorders. However, results regarding adolescents are less conclusive. The synchrony of physiological responsiveness among mother-child interactions is thought to promote child’s self-regulatory abilities. Mothers’ psychopathology and child internalizing problems have been reported to disturb dyadic physiological synchrony, but less is known about adolescents’ risk of anxiety and the role of fathers. Therefore, the aims of this study were to examine the vagal response of adolescents with different risk for anxiety disorders during positive and negative interaction tasks and whether father-adolescent cardiac responses were synchronized during them. Method. We examined differences in vagal tone (measured by temporal and spectral indices) among 24 adolescents with high risk for anxiety disorders (Mage = 14.15, SDage = 0.66), 14 with medium risk (Mage = 14.21, SDage = 0.58), and 28 with low risk (Mage = 14.14, SDage = 0.73). Interbeat interval series were continuously recorded for both father and adolescent when performing a positive and a negative 10-min discussion task. Results. No differences in vagal responsiveness were found between anxiety risk groups. Low anxiety risk group had significantly low vagal tone (spectral index) in the negative content interaction task if compared with the positive one. Physiological synchrony was only present a level above chance in the group with medium risk for anxiety in the negative content interaction task. Conclusions. Adolescents with low risk for anxiety seem to exhibit higher vagal fluctuation than adolescents with medium and high risk for anxiety, which could be a protective factor in the onset of anxiety disorders. Results highlight the complexity and uncertainty of physiological synchrony.