Physiological Linkage and Affective Dynamics in Dyadic Interactions Between Adolescents and Their Depressed Mothers

Maternal depression is a well-known risk factor for adolescent depression and other poor outcomes. However, the mechanisms of transmission from parent to adolescent are still unclear. Affect expression, as well as physiological indices of emotion processing such as heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), have been implicated as important factors in the development of depression. The literature often does not consider the interpersonal context in which this development occurs. However, recent research has just begun to combine affect and physiological processes as they unfold through interpersonal reactions in real time. The current study assessed the relationships between parent and adolescent affect and RSA over time during cooperative and conflict tasks. Specifically, actor-partner effects were examined using the Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) during interactions between fifty-nine dyads of depressed mothers and their adolescents. APIM analyses were used to examine bidirectional linkages between mothers and adolescents, and to identify differences in these linkages in relation to maternal depression. Paced breathing was controlled for in the analyses. Research on physiological linkage measuring concordance of change in RSA and affect between partners suggests important implications for healthy and unhealthy interactions within close relationships. In general, the literature demonstrates that greater concordance between partners occurs during interactions that are marked by greater interpersonal conflict. Regarding the cooperative “fun” task, maternal RSA predicted later maternal RSA (actor effect). Maternal depression predicted stable maternal RSA across time. Maternal negative affect (NA) evidenced a partner effect for adolescent RSA such that greater maternal NA displayed during the task predicted greater adolescent RSA over time. Regarding the conflict task, maternal depression again predicted stability of RSA for both mother and adolescent over time. There was a significant concordance relationship between mother and adolescent RSA over time where maternal RSA predicted later adolescent RSA. Specifically, greater maternal RSA predicted greater adolescent RSA and lower maternal RSA predicted lower adolescent RSA. These findings regarding mother-adolescent dynamics have important implications for the generation of family prevention programs for depression.