National Library of Medicine: IGM
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TITLE:
Cardiac vagal tone indices of temperamental
reactivity and behavioral regulation in young children.
AUTHOR:
Calkins SD
AUTHOR AFFILIATION:
Department of Psychology, University of North
Carolina at Greensboro 27412, USA.
SOURCE:
Dev Psychobiol 1997 Sep;31(2):125-35
NLM CIT. ID:
97443967
ABSTRACT:
The relation between two dimensions of vagal tone
(Vna), indexed by a baseline measure of Vna and suppression of Vna and temperamental
reactivity and behavioral regulation was investigated. Forty-one children were observed
during a series of episodes designed to elicit temperamental reactivity and behavioral
regulation. Heart rate was recorded during these baseline, positive, negative, and delay
episodes, from which measures of vagal tone were computed. Across the entire sample, vagal
tone decreased from the baseline episode to the three affect tasks. Baseline measures of
vagal tone were related to the tendency to show a decrease in vagal tone: Children who
consistently suppressed vagal tone (showed a decrease to all the affect tasks) had higher
baseline vagal tone. Baseline vagal tone was related to temperamental reactivity for the
positive and negative tasks, but not the delay tasks. Vagal suppression (vagal difference
score) was related to several of the behavioral regulation strategies used by the children
in the affect-eliciting situations. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive
value of physiological regulation in the development of regulatory behaviors that may be
critical to social development.
Affect/PHYSIOLOGY
Child, Preschool
Female
Heart Rate/PHYSIOLOGY
Human
Individuality
Internal-External Control
Male
Socialization
PUBLICATION TYPES:
JOURNAL ARTICLE
LANGUAGE:
Eng
On Sabbatical!
When my office
lease expired at the end of 2004, I decided to turn it into a
"sabbatical" from my private practice. Many years ago, in my
grandfather's 89th year of life, he told me, "John, it is important
to smell the roses while you can still smell them." His life
gave living a very good reputation. It is also true that the
pursuit of that philosophy required my grandfather to to re-open his
assay office/ore market in Wickenburg, Arizona as a 75-year-old because
he had run a little short of retirement money. Thus, if blessed with his
luck and health, I'll be back.. --jjh
