Autonomic reactivity and psychopathology in middle childhood
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Better indicators are needed for identifying children with early signs of developmental psychopathology. AIMS: To identify measures of autonomic nervous system reactivity that discriminate children with internalising and externalising behavioural symptoms. METHOD: A cross-sectional study of 122 children aged 6--7 years examined sympathetic and parasympathetic reactivity to standardised field-laboratory stressors as predictors of parent- and teacher-reported mental health symptoms. RESULTS: Measures of autonomic reactivity discriminated between children with internalising behaviour problems, externalising behaviour problems and neither. Internalisers showed high reactivity relative to low-symptom children, principally in the parasympathetic branch, while externalisers showed low reactivity, in both autonomic branches. CONCLUSIONS: School-age children with mental health symptoms showed a pattern of autonomic dimorphism in their reactivity to standardised challenges. This observation may be of use in early identification of children with presyndromal psychopathology.
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A fair number of studies have found that children with externalizing behavior problems display a more blunted vagal response to challenge.
“a fair number of studies have found that children with externalizing behavior problems display a more blunted vagal response to challenge”
From Cardiac vagal control and children's adaptive functioning: A meta-analysis (2013) · cites this paper as Boyce et al., 2001
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- Authors
- Boyce, W. T., Quas, J., Alkon, A., Smider, N. A., Essex, M. J., Kupfer, D. J., & MacArthur Assessment Battery Working Group of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Psychopathology and Development
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Boyce, W. Thomas
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2001-08
- Volume
- 179
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 144-150
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2113410292
- Cited by
- 274
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 6.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Ohio State University
- Harvard University
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH44340, R01MH044340)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Keywords
- autonomic reactivity, middle childhood, externalizing problems, developmental psychopathology, sympathetic response, parasympathetic reactivity
- MeSH terms
- Arousal, Autonomic Nervous System Diseases, Blood Pressure, Child, Child Behavior Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Sex Factors, Stress, Psychological, Statistics, Nonparametric
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