Parent Stress and Trauma, Autonomic Responses, and Negative Child Behaviors

Abstract

Cumulative stress and trauma in parents may alter autonomic function. Both may negatively impact child behaviors, however these links have not been well established. We tested hypotheses that parent stress and trauma are associated with and interact with altered autonomic function during the toy wait task, an acute parent-child interaction challenge, to predict greater negative child behaviors. Sixty-eight parents and their 2-5 year old children were enrolled. More parent major and traumatic life events, and more parent recent life events coupled with increased heart rate and decreased heart rate variability (HRV), each related to more child disruptive/aggressive behavior. More major life and traumatic life events coupled with greater HRV predicted more child attention seeking behavior. Our novel approach to assessing parental life stress offers a unique perspective. Interventions mitigating parent stress and regulating physiological coping during parent-child interactions may both promote better parent health and improve child behavioral outcomes.

Keywords: Attention-seeking; Child aggression; Heart rate variability (HRV); Stress; Trauma.