Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T12:53:12.882Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coparenting, family-level processes, and peer outcomes: The moderating role of vagal tone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2004

ALISON LEARY  and
LYNN FAINSILBER KATZ
ALISON LEARY
Affiliation:
University of Washington
LYNN FAINSILBER KATZ
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between coparenting and family-level processes during preschool and peer relationship outcomes in middle childhood, and the hypothesis that children's ability to regulate emotion (as indexed by basal vagal tone and the ability to suppress vagal tone) may moderate this relationship. We predicted that high vagal tone and a greater ability to suppress vagal tone would buffer children from the effects of negative coparenting and family processes. Results indicated that hostile–withdrawn coparenting predicted higher levels of conflicted play and lower levels of positive peer conversation. Vagal suppression also moderated the relationship between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and peer conflict. For children who were unable to suppress vagal tone, hostile–withdrawn coparenting was associated with higher levels of peer conflict, while for children who were able to suppress vagal tone there was no relationship hostile–withdrawn coparenting and peer conflict. The relationship between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and positive peer conversation was also moderated by children's ability to suppress vagal tone. For children who were unable to suppress vagal tone, there was no relationship between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and positive peer conversation, while for those who were able to suppress vagal tone, hostile–withdrawn coparenting was associated with less positive peer conversation. Cohesive family-level processes also predicted positive conversation in play at age 9 after controlling for positive conversation at age 5; however, this relationship was not moderated by vagal suppression. Basal vagal tone also did not function as a moderator of relations between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and peer play. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of negative coparenting on children with different patterns of modulating physiological arousal.This research was supported by a research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to the second author (1 R01 49141). The authors thank the families involved for their participation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 593 - 608
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adams, G. R., Ryan, B. A., Ketsetzis, M., & Keating, L. (2000). Rule compliance and peer sociability: A study of family process, school focused parent–child interactions, and children's classroom behavior. Journal of Family Psychology 14, 237–250.Google Scholar
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newberry Park, CA: Sage.
Beauchaine, T. P. (2001). Vagal tone, development, and Gray's motivational theory: Toward an integrated model of autonomic nervous system functioning in psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology 13, 183–214.Google Scholar
Calkins, S. D. (1994). Individual differences in the biological aspects of temperament. In J. E. Bates & T. D. Wachs (Eds.), Temperament: Individual differences at the interface of biology and behavior (pp. 199–217). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Calkins, S. D., & Dedmon, S. E. (2000). Physiological and behavioral regulation in two-year-old children with aggressive/destructive behavior problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 28, 103–118.Google Scholar
Christensen, A., Phillips, S., Glasgow, R. E., & Johnson, S. M. (1983). Parental characteristics and interactional dysfunction in families with child behavior problems: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 11, 153–166.Google Scholar
Crick, N. R., Bigbee, M. A., & Howes, C. (1996). Gender differences in children's normative beliefs about aggression: How do I hurt thee? Let me count the ways. Child Development 67, 1003–1014.Google Scholar
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender and social–psychological adjustment. Child Development 66, 710–722.Google Scholar
Davidson, R. J. (1993). The neuropsychology of emotion and affective style. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 143–154). New York: Guilford Press.
Deater–Deckard, K. (2001). Annotation: Recent research examining the role of peer relationships in the development of psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 42, 565–579.Google Scholar
Dishion, T. J., McCord, J., & Poulin, F. (1999). When interventions harm: Peer groups and problem behavior. American Psychologist 54, 755–764.Google Scholar
Dodge, K. A., & Somberg, D. R. (1987). Hostile attributional biases among aggressive boys are exacerbated under conditions of threats to the self. Child Development 58, 213–224.Google Scholar
El-Sheikh, M., Harger, J., & Whitson, S. M. (2001). Exposure to interparental conflict and children's adjustment and physical health: The moderating role of vagal tone. Child Development 72, 1617–1636.Google Scholar
Erel, O., & Burman, B. (1995). Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent–child relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin 118, 108–132.Google Scholar
Fox, N. A. (1994). Dynamic cerebral processes underlying emotion regulation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, (Serial Nos. 152–166), 250–283.Google Scholar
Gottman, J. M. (1981). Time series analysis: A comprehensive introduction for social scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gottman, J. M. (1983). How children become friends. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 48(2, Serial No. 201).Google Scholar
Gottman, J. M., & Katz, L. F. (1989). Effects of marital discord on young children's peer interactions and health. Developmental Psychology 25, 373–381.Google Scholar
Gottman, J. M., Katz, L. F., & Hooven, C. (1997). Meta-emotion: How families communicate emotionally (pp. 150–151). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gottman, J. M., & Parker, J. G. (Eds.). (1986). Conversations of Friends: Speculations on affective development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1993). Patterns of marital conflict predict children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Developmental Psychology 29, 940–950.Google Scholar
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1995). Vagal tone protects children from marital conflict. Development and Psychopathology 7, 83–92.Google Scholar
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1997). Buffering children from marital conflict and dissolution. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 26, 157–171.Google Scholar
Katz, L. F., & Low, S. (in press). Marital violence, co-parenting, family level processes and child adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology.
Katz, L. F., Low, S., Young, L., & Kahm, N. (1997). Family-level interaction co-parenting system. Unpublished manuscript, University of Washington, Seattle.
Katz, L. F., & Woodin, E. M. (2002). Hostility, hostile detachment, and conflict engagement in marriages: Effects on child and family functioning. Child Development 73, 636–652.Google Scholar
Kreppner, K., & Lerner, R. M. (1989). Family systems and life-span development: Issues and perspectives. In K. Kreppner & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Family systems and life-span development (pp. 1–33). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
LeDoux, J. E. (2000). Emotion circuits in the brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience 23, 155–184.Google Scholar
Lengua, L. J., Wolchik, S. A., Sandler, I. N., & West, S. G. (2000). The additive and interactive effects of parenting and temperament in predicting adjustment problems in children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 29, 232–244.Google Scholar
McConnell, M. C., & Kerig, P. K. (2002). Assessing co-parenting in families of school-age children: Validation of the co-parenting and family rating system. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 34, 44–58.Google Scholar
McHale, J. P., Johnson, D., & Sinclair (1999). Family dynamics, preschoolers' family representations, and preschool peer relationships. Early Education & Development 10, 373–401.Google Scholar
McHale, J. P., Kuersten, R., & Lauretti, A. (1996). New directions in the study of family-level dynamics during infancy and early childhood. In J. McHale & P. Cowan (Eds.), New directions for child development. No. 74: Understanding how family-level dynamics affect children's development: Studies of two-parent families. San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.
McHale, J. P., & Rasmussen, J. L. (1998). Coparental and family group-level dynamics during infancy: Early family precursors of child and family functioning during preschool. Development and Psychopathology 10, 39–59.Google Scholar
Minuchin, P. (1985). Families and individual development: Provocations from the field of family therapy. Child Development 56, 289–302.Google Scholar
Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Parke, R. D. (1977). Some effect of punishment on children's behavior–Revisited. In E. M. Hetherington & R. D. Parke (Eds.), Contemporary readings in child psychology. New York: McGraw–Hill.
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1987). Peer relations and later personal adjustment: Are low-accepted children at risk? Psychological Bulletin 102, 357–389.Google Scholar
Porges, S. W. (1995). Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage: A Polyvagal theory. Psychophysiology 32, 301–318.Google Scholar
Porges, S. W., Doussard–Roosevelt, J. A., & Maiti, A. K. (1994). Vagal tone and physiological regulation of emotion. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 59(2–3, Serial No. 240).Google Scholar
Porges, S. W., Doussard–Roosevelt, J. A., Portales, A. L., & Suess, P. E. (1994). Cardiac vagal tone: Stability and relation to difficultness in infants and 3 year-olds. Developmental Psychobiology 27, 289–300.Google Scholar
Rogosa, D. (1995). Myths and methods: “Myths about longitudinal research” plus supplemental questions. In J. M. Gottman (Ed.), The analysis of change (pp. 3–66). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sameroff, A. J. (1994). Developmental systems and family functioning. In R. D. Parke & S. G. Kellam (Eds.), Exploring family relationships with other social contexts (pp. 199–214). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schoppe, S. J., Mangelsdorf, S. C., & Frosch, C. A. (2001). Coparenting, family process, and family structure: Implications for preschoolers' externalizing behavior problems. Journal of Family Psychology 15, 526–545.Google Scholar
Sears, R. R., Maccoby, E. E., & Levin, H. (1957). Patterns of child rearing. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.
Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of a definition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 59, 250–283.Google Scholar
Vaughan, V. C., & McKay, R. J. (Eds). (1975). Nelson textbook of pediatrics (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.
Willett, J. B. (2000). Measuring change: What individual growth modeling buys you. In E. Amsel & K. A. Renninger (Eds.), Change and development: Issues of theory, method and application. The Jean Piaget symposium series (pp. 213–243). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Williams, B. R., Ponesse, J. S., Schachar, R. J., Logan, G. D., & Tannock, R. (1999). Development of inhibitory control across the life span. Developmental Psychology 35, 205–213.Google Scholar