Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot study
Introduction Attachment, as an interpersonal motivational system, is the relational ground that allows emotions to be regulated through action on the Autonomic Nervous System resulting in better psychological outcomes during middle childhood. Emotion dysregulation and autonomic function are often c...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2023-03-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933823015341/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797617224381366272 |
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| author | M. Tironi S. Charpentier-Mora F. Bizzi |
| author_facet | M. Tironi S. Charpentier-Mora F. Bizzi |
| author_sort | M. Tironi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Introduction
Attachment, as an interpersonal motivational system, is the relational ground that allows emotions to be regulated through action on the Autonomic Nervous System resulting in better psychological outcomes during middle childhood. Emotion dysregulation and autonomic function are often connected to psychiatric symptoms observed in adolescence (e.g. borderline personality disorder traits) and thus middle childhood becomes a critical age for psychopathological trajectories.
Objectives
Examine the relationship between child’s attachment and both psychological and physiological emotional regulation.
Methods
20 children (Mage = 10.7, SD = 1.25; 65% males) were recruited from general population. Attachment was measured through the Child Attachment Interview (CAI), while emotional regulation was assessed with a multimethod approach, using questionnaires i.e. How I Feel (HIF) and Positive and Negative Affect (PANAS), and physiological measurements i.e. Heart Rate Variability (ratio between High Frequency and Low Frequency, HF/LF, labeled as the child’s sympathovagal balance) and Heart Rate (Beats Per Minute, BPM, as an index of physiological reactivity).
Results
Statistically significant correlations emerged between the HIF-Control scale and the Mother and Father Dismissal CAI scale, the PANAS-Negative Affect scale and the Mother and Father Preoccupied Anger CAI scale. Moreover, there was a non-significant but moderate effect (rs > .30) between HF/LF and the Emotional Openness and the Resolution scales of the CAI, and between BPM and the Emotional Openness scale.
Conclusions
Despite the small sample size, more secure children are able to connect with their emotions and properly use them in solving relational problems. Consequently, they are likely to succeed in understanding and regulating emotions as they manage to find more adaptive strategies their own. On the contrary, the presence of dismissal or anger (insecure attachment) towards parents would appear to lead to higher levels of psycho-physiological dysregulation, a core feature of Borderline Personality Disorder dimensions starting to emerge later in adolescence. Future studies should consider physiological dysregulation as an additional factor linked to psychopathological developmental trajectories.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:51:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b2d2e810be2e4c93983a3807a33b830e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:51:47Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-b2d2e810be2e4c93983a3807a33b830e2023-11-17T05:06:32ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Psychiatry0924-93381778-35852023-03-0166S731S73110.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.1534Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot studyM. Tironi0S. Charpentier-Mora1F. Bizzi2University of Genova, GenovaUniversity of Genova, GenovaUniversity of Genova, Genova Introduction Attachment, as an interpersonal motivational system, is the relational ground that allows emotions to be regulated through action on the Autonomic Nervous System resulting in better psychological outcomes during middle childhood. Emotion dysregulation and autonomic function are often connected to psychiatric symptoms observed in adolescence (e.g. borderline personality disorder traits) and thus middle childhood becomes a critical age for psychopathological trajectories. Objectives Examine the relationship between child’s attachment and both psychological and physiological emotional regulation. Methods 20 children (Mage = 10.7, SD = 1.25; 65% males) were recruited from general population. Attachment was measured through the Child Attachment Interview (CAI), while emotional regulation was assessed with a multimethod approach, using questionnaires i.e. How I Feel (HIF) and Positive and Negative Affect (PANAS), and physiological measurements i.e. Heart Rate Variability (ratio between High Frequency and Low Frequency, HF/LF, labeled as the child’s sympathovagal balance) and Heart Rate (Beats Per Minute, BPM, as an index of physiological reactivity). Results Statistically significant correlations emerged between the HIF-Control scale and the Mother and Father Dismissal CAI scale, the PANAS-Negative Affect scale and the Mother and Father Preoccupied Anger CAI scale. Moreover, there was a non-significant but moderate effect (rs > .30) between HF/LF and the Emotional Openness and the Resolution scales of the CAI, and between BPM and the Emotional Openness scale. Conclusions Despite the small sample size, more secure children are able to connect with their emotions and properly use them in solving relational problems. Consequently, they are likely to succeed in understanding and regulating emotions as they manage to find more adaptive strategies their own. On the contrary, the presence of dismissal or anger (insecure attachment) towards parents would appear to lead to higher levels of psycho-physiological dysregulation, a core feature of Borderline Personality Disorder dimensions starting to emerge later in adolescence. Future studies should consider physiological dysregulation as an additional factor linked to psychopathological developmental trajectories. Disclosure of Interest None Declaredhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933823015341/type/journal_article |
| spellingShingle | M. Tironi S. Charpentier-Mora F. Bizzi Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot study European Psychiatry |
| title | Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot study |
| title_full | Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot study |
| title_fullStr | Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot study |
| title_short | Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Physiological Reactivity in middle-childhood: a pilot study |
| title_sort | attachment emotion regulation and physiological reactivity in middle childhood a pilot study |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933823015341/type/journal_article |
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