Change in maternal harshness and home environment across early childhood as predictors of autonomic regulation in adolescence in the context of prenatal substance exposure

Using the Dimensional Model of Psychopathology as our theoretical framework, we investigated whether developmental patterns of maternal harshness and quality of the home environment predicted autonomic regulation in a high-risk sample of adolescents. Maternal harshness was assessed at 5-points (infancy-preschool), quality of the caregiving environment was assessed at 3-points (early school age) and autonomic regulation during a social stressor was assessed during early adolescence in 203 mother-child dyads. Quality of the home environment increased over time whereas maternal harshness increased between 7- and 24-months of child age before decreasing from 36- to 48-months of age. Increases in harsh parenting from 7- to 24-months were associated with less RSA reactivity. These findings indicate that developmental changes in an index of threat, but not deprivation, predict autonomic functioning in early adolescence. These findings have significant implications for understanding the long-term physiological consequences of early adversity, particularly harsh parenting.