Dyadic Behavioral Coregulation And Child Physiological Activity In Homeless/Highly Mobile Parent-Child Dyads: A State-Space Grid Analysis

Abstract

The quality of parent-child interactions, particularly in toddlerhood, shapes children’s development across the lifespan. This is particularly true for families experiencing chronic stress and adversity, for example homelessness and high mobility (HHM). Evidence suggests that parent-child interaction quality and child physiological self-regulation, specifically respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), can be important protective factors that mitigate the impact of chronic stress on children’s socio-emotional adjustment. However, we do not understand the microsocial dynamics of parent-child behavioral interaction, how this is associated with child physiological regulation in real-time, or how this real-time biobehavioral association predicts broader indices of children’s socio-emotional well-being. In this light, the current study takes a combined developmental psychopathology-dynamic systems approach to assess how microsocial parent-child interaction processes coordinate with child RSA in real-time in N=100 families currently experiencing HHM. This study also investigated the extent to which real-time biobehavioral coordination correlates with broader indices of child adjustment: specifically, observed child executive functioning and parent-reported child socio-emotional adjustment. Children were 3-6 years old (M=4.92, SD=1.21) and families were all currently living in an urban emergency housing shelter at the time of assessment. Microsocial parent-child interaction processes were assessed during three different interaction tasks via state-space grid methodology. Child RSA was measured via ambulatory heart rate monitors during the interaction tasks. Prior to interaction, children completed the Minnesota Executive Functioning Scale and parents reported on their children’s socio-emotional adjustment via the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and a subscale of the Health and Behavior Questionnaire. Multi-level vector autoregressive analyses suggested that child RSA in one moment was positively associated with dyadic behavioral coregulation in the next moment. However, dyadic behavioral coregulation did not conversely predict subsequent child RSA. These associations did not vary across tasks. For individual dyads, the association between child RSA and behavioral coregulation ranged from moderately negative to strongly positive. Still, the magnitude of this within-dyad association did not significantly predict child observed executive functioning or parent-reported socio-emotional adjustment. Results are interpreted in light of their implications for understanding risk and protective factors for families experiencing HHM. Methodological and statistical lessons are also discussed.