TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantifying respiratory sinus arrhythmia
T2 - Effects of misspecifying breathing frequencies across development
AU - Shader, Tiffany M.
AU - Gatzke-Kopp, Lisa M.
AU - Crowell, Sheila E.
AU - Jamila Reid, M.
AU - Thayer, Julian F.
AU - Vasey, Michael W.
AU - Webster-Stratton, Carolyn
AU - Bell, Ziv
AU - Beauchaine, Theodore P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The research reported in this article was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH12209, MH67192, and MH63699 and by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. We acknowledge Amelia Aldao and Mathew Free for their helpful contributions to this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright Cambridge University Press 2017.
PY - 2018/2/1
Y1 - 2018/2/1
N2 - Low resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and to a lesser extent excessive RSA reactivity to emotion evocation, are observed in many psychiatric disorders characterized by emotion dysregulation, including syndromes spanning the internalizing and externalizing spectra, and other conditions such as nonsuicidal self-injury. Nevertheless, some inconsistencies exist. For example, null outcomes in studies of RSA-emotion dysregulation relations are sometimes observed among younger participants. Such findings may derive from use of age inappropriate frequency bands in calculating RSA. We combine data from five published samples (N = 559) spanning ages 4 to 17 years, and reanalyze RSA data using age-appropriate respiratory frequencies. Misspecifying respiratory frequencies results in overestimates of resting RSA and underestimates of RSA reactivity, particularly among young children. Underestimates of developmental shifts in RSA and RSA reactivity from preschool to adolescence were also observed. Although correlational analyses revealed weak negative associations between resting RSA and aggression, those with clinical levels of externalizing exhibited lower resting RSA than their peers. No associations between RSA reactivity and externalizing were observed. Results confirm that age-corrected frequency bands should be used when estimating RSA, and that literature-wide overestimates of resting RSA, underestimates of RSA reactivity, and underestimates of developmental shifts in RSA and RSA reactivity may exist.
AB - Low resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and to a lesser extent excessive RSA reactivity to emotion evocation, are observed in many psychiatric disorders characterized by emotion dysregulation, including syndromes spanning the internalizing and externalizing spectra, and other conditions such as nonsuicidal self-injury. Nevertheless, some inconsistencies exist. For example, null outcomes in studies of RSA-emotion dysregulation relations are sometimes observed among younger participants. Such findings may derive from use of age inappropriate frequency bands in calculating RSA. We combine data from five published samples (N = 559) spanning ages 4 to 17 years, and reanalyze RSA data using age-appropriate respiratory frequencies. Misspecifying respiratory frequencies results in overestimates of resting RSA and underestimates of RSA reactivity, particularly among young children. Underestimates of developmental shifts in RSA and RSA reactivity from preschool to adolescence were also observed. Although correlational analyses revealed weak negative associations between resting RSA and aggression, those with clinical levels of externalizing exhibited lower resting RSA than their peers. No associations between RSA reactivity and externalizing were observed. Results confirm that age-corrected frequency bands should be used when estimating RSA, and that literature-wide overestimates of resting RSA, underestimates of RSA reactivity, and underestimates of developmental shifts in RSA and RSA reactivity may exist.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0954579417000669
DO - 10.1017/S0954579417000669
M3 - Article
C2 - 28554343
AN - SCOPUS:85019762196
SN - 0954-5794
VL - 30
SP - 351
EP - 366
JO - Development and Psychopathology
JF - Development and Psychopathology
IS - 1
ER -