Vagal Suppression Buffers Against the Negative Effects of Psychological Inflexibility on Parenting Behaviors in Combat Deployed Fathers

IF 2.3 4区心理学 Q2 FAMILY STUDIES

Parenting-Science and Practice Pub Date : 2020-09-16 DOI:10.1080/15295192.2020.1804250

N. Zhang, J. Hoch, A. Gewirtz, Andrew C. Barnes, J. Snyder

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Objective : Vagal suppression is a parasympathetic physiological indicator of emotion regulation and social engagement behaviors, often measured via heart rate variability. Experiential avoidance reflects psychological inflexibility or poor emotion regulation. We tested the interaction effects of parental vagal suppression and experiential avoidance on observed parenting behaviors among combat deployed fathers. Design . We analyzed data from 92 male National Guard/Reserve members who had returned from a deployment to Iraq and/or Afghanistan since 2001. They were mostly European American, in their 30s, middle-class, and married. All fathers participated in home-based assessments with their spouses (if married) and a target child aged 4–13 years. Fathers’ vagal suppression was measured as the decrease in cardiac vagal tone (i.e., high frequency heart rate variability) from a neutral reading task to a father-child conflict resolution task. Experiential avoidance was self-reported. Parenting behaviors were observed during family interaction tasks and coded into positive engagement and withdrawal avoidance using a macro-level coding system. Results . Multiple regression analysis showed no main effects of vagal suppression on observed parenting, but interaction effects of experiential avoidance by vagal suppression on observed parenting. Specifically, among fathers with higher vagal suppression, we found no relations between experiential avoidance and observed parenting; among fathers with lower vagal suppression, we found an inverse association between experiential avoidance and positive engagement as well as a positive association between experiential avoidance and withdrawal avoidance. Conclusions . The effect of psychological inflexibility on military fathers’ parenting behaviors was moderated by vagal suppression. The findings have implications for the linkage between emotion regulation and parenting in military fathers.

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迷走神经抑制缓冲了战斗部署父亲心理不灵活性对养育行为的负面影响

目的:迷走神经抑制是情绪调节和社会参与行为的副交感神经生理指标，通常通过心率变异性来测量。经验性回避反映了心理上的不灵活或情绪调节能力差。我们测试了父母迷走神经抑制和经验回避对战斗部署父亲观察到的育儿行为的相互作用。设计。我们分析了自2001年以来从伊拉克和/或阿富汗部署回来的92名男性国民警卫队/预备役成员的数据。他们大多是欧洲裔美国人，30多岁，中产阶级，已婚。所有父亲都与他们的配偶(如果已婚)和一名4-13岁的目标儿童一起参加了以家庭为基础的评估。父亲的迷走神经抑制是通过心脏迷走神经张力(即高频心率变异性)从中性阅读任务到父子冲突解决任务的降低来测量的。经验回避是自我报告的。在家庭互动任务中观察父母行为，并使用宏观编码系统将其编码为积极参与和回避回避。结果。多元回归分析显示迷走神经抑制对观察教养无主要影响，但迷走神经抑制的经验回避对观察教养有交互作用。具体来说，在迷走神经抑制程度较高的父亲中，我们发现经验回避和观察育儿之间没有关系;在迷走神经抑制较低的父亲中，我们发现体验回避与积极投入之间呈负相关，体验回避与退缩回避之间呈正相关。结论。迷走神经抑制调节了心理不灵活性对军人父亲教养行为的影响。这一发现暗示了军人父亲的情绪调节和养育子女之间的联系。

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来源期刊

Parenting-Science and Practice Multiple-

CiteScore

5.50

自引率

4.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Parenting: Science and Practice strives to promote the exchange of empirical findings, theoretical perspectives, and methodological approaches from all disciplines that help to define and advance theory, research, and practice in parenting, caregiving, and childrearing broadly construed. "Parenting" is interpreted to include biological parents and grandparents, adoptive parents, nonparental caregivers, and others, including infrahuman parents. Articles on parenting itself, antecedents of parenting, parenting effects on parents and on children, the multiple contexts of parenting, and parenting interventions and education are all welcome. The journal brings parenting to science and science to parenting.