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Cited by 77Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentNeuroscience of respiration and sleep

Developmental patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia from toddlerhood to adolescence.

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Dollar, Jessica M., Calkins, Susan D., Berry, Nathaniel T., Perry, Nicole B., Keane, Susan P., Shanahan, Lilly, Wideman, Laurie·2020·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037/dev0000894PMC PMC8188730
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Abstract

Parasympathetic nervous system functioning as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is widely used as a measure of physiological regulation. We examined developmental patterns of children's resting RSA and RSA reactivity from 2 to 15 years of age, a period of time that is marked by considerable advances in children's regulatory abilities. Physiological data were collected from a community sample of 270 children (116 males) during a resting period and during a frustration laboratory task when the children were 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 15 years old. We examined both stability and continuity in resting RSA and RSA reactivity across time. We found stability in resting RSA but not RSA reactivity from toddlerhood to adolescence. Separate multilevel models were used to examine changes in resting RSA and RSA reactivity from Age 2 to Age 15. The rate of change in resting RSA slowed from Age 2 to Age 15 with a plateau around Age 10. A splined growth model indicated that the rate of RSA reactivity increased from Age 2 to Age 7 and a modest slowing and leveling off from Age 7 to Age 15. Understanding the developmental characteristics of RSA across childhood and adolescence is important to understanding the larger constructs of self- and emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

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  • Dollar et al. found that for ~200 children, the RSA at 10 and 15 years ranged from 5.5 to 7.8 ln(ms2).

    “Dollar et al. studied 270 children and followed them from 2 to 15 years. For ~200 children, the RSA at 10 and 15 years ranged from 5.5 to 7.8 ln(ms2) (Figure 1) (28).”

    From Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Is Not Associated With Abnormal Autonomic Nervous System Function: Hypothesis and Theory (2022) · cites this paper as Dollar et al. (28)

    The Method (Participants and Procedure; page unavailable) reports 270 children studied at ages including 10 and 15, and Measures gives the RSA unit as ln(msec)². The Results (Preliminary Data; page unavailable) refers to descriptive statistics in Table 1, but the passages available from our copy do not establish approximately 200 children at those ages or an RSA range of 5.5–7.8. (LLM, conf=0.81)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Dollar, J. M., Calkins, S. D., Berry, N. T., Perry, N. B., Keane, S. P., Shanahan, L., & Wideman, L.
Affiliations
  • University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US)
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • University of Zurich (CH)
ORCID
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2020-04
Volume
56
Issue
4
Pages
783-794
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
DOI
10.1037/dev0000894
PMC
PMC8188730
OpenAlex
W3003627039
Cited by
77
References
10
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 4
FWCI
5.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • NC Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) (submittedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (55625, 55584, 58144)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroscience of respiration and sleep
Keywords
respiratory sinus arrhythmia, parasympathetic nervous system, autonomic nervous system development, frustration, emotion regulation, self-regulation, children, adolescents, toddlerhood
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Parasympathetic Nervous System, Adolescent Development, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia

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