Citation

Jenness JL, Miller AB, Rosen ML, McLaughlin KA. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 2019; 47(4): 659-670.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. mclaughk@uw.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10802-018-0464-0

PMID

30112595

Abstract

Childhood abuse is a potent risk factor for psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research has shown high resting vagal tone, a measure of parasympathetic nervous system function, protects abused youth from developing internalizing psychopathology, but potential mechanisms explaining this effect are unknown. We explored fear extinction learning as a possible mechanism underlying the protective effect of vagal tone on PTSD symptoms among abused youth. We measured resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and skin conductance responses (SCR) during a fear conditioning and extinction task in youth with variability in abuse exposure (N = 94; aged 6-18 years). High RSA predicted lower PTSD symptoms and enhanced extinction learning among abused youths. In a moderated-mediation model, extinction learning mediated the association of abuse with PTSD symptoms only among youth with high RSA. These findings highlight extinction learning as a possible mechanism linking high vagal tone to decreased risk for PTSD symptoms among abused youth.

Language: en

Keywords

Child abuse; Fear extinction; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Respiratory sinus arrhythmia; Resting vagal tone