The Influence of Neighborhood on Infant Parasympathetic Nervous System Development

Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Lytle, Marisa
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- September 24, 2022
- Committee Members:
- Koraly Elisa Perez-Edgar, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dawn Paula Witherspoon, Committee Member
Kristin Buss (She/Her), Program Head/Chair
Heidemarie Laurent, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Infancy
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Neighborhood
Maternal Depression
Development - Abstract:
- The adaptive calibration model asserts that the stress response system, including the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), conditionally adapts to one’s environment. In infancy, the proximal context of parental influences is commonly been used to test this model and maternal depression, anxiety and responsivity have all been shown to affect the development of infant stress response systems. In contrast, the relation between broader contexts such as neighborhood environment and infant PNS development are less well understood despite knowledge that neighborhood may impact maternal mental health and youth outcomes. The present study bridges prior research separately examining relations between neighborhood and maternal depression, and maternal depression and infant parasympathetic nervous system development. To test this, I examine associations between structural neighborhood disadvantage and trajectories of infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during rest and reactivity, with initial levels and trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms as a potential mediator. In addition, the presents study investigates the role of supportive neighborhood social factors in moderating the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on maternal depression. Participants included 248 mother-infant pairs from a larger longitudinal study. At 4-months, mothers completed questionnaires about their neighborhood perceptions. Structural disadvantage was determined from census data from the address caregivers provided at 4-months. Maternal depressive symptoms across infancy were measured using Becks Depression Inventory at 4-, 8-, 12-, 18-, and 24-months. Lastly, infant RSA was collected at 8-, 12-, 18-, and 24-months during rest and arm restraint. Latent growth curve analysis indicated that maternal depression showed global decreases across infancy and infant resting RSA showed global increases as well as individual differences in increases across infancy and was well suited to test a latent growth mediation model. The latent growth mediation analysis fit data well and indicated that neighborhood structural disadvantage showed significant direct effects on initial levels of infant resting RSA controlling for other factors. However, there were no significant indirect effects of neighborhood through maternal depression on infant RSA levels or trajectories. These results highlight the potential importance of the early influence of broader context on infant stress response system development that may be communicated through other mechanisms beyond maternal depressive symptoms.