A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between parenting and child autonomic nervous system activity

Parental socialization may influence the development of children’s autonomic nervous system (ANS), a key stress-response system. However, to date no quantitative synthesis of the literature linking parenting and child ANS physiology has been conducted. To address this gap, we conducted a pre-registe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 139; p. 104734
Main Authors:	Alen, Nicholas V., Shields, Grant S., Nemer, Adele, D’Souza, Indira A., Ohlgart, Marcela J., Hostinar, Camelia E.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2022
Subjects:	Attachment Autonomic nervous system Autonomic Nervous System - physiology Child Humans Parasympathetic Parasympathetic Nervous System Parenting Rest Sympathetic Sympathetic Nervous System - physiology Parenting Parasympathetic Attachment Autonomic nervous system Sympathetic
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Summary:	Parental socialization may influence the development of children’s autonomic nervous system (ANS), a key stress-response system. However, to date no quantitative synthesis of the literature linking parenting and child ANS physiology has been conducted. To address this gap, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis. A systematic review of the literature identified 103 studies (n = 13,044 participants) with available effect sizes describing the association between parenting and either parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity in children. The overall analysis revealed non-significant associations between parenting and child ANS physiology on average. However, moderation analyses revealed a positive association between more positive parenting and higher resting PNS activity that was stronger when a study was experimental rather than correlational, and when the sample included children with a clinical condition. In conclusion, well-controlled experimental studies show that positive parenting is associated with the development of higher resting PNS activity, an effect that may be stronger among children who are at elevated developmental risk. •Systematic search conducted for studies on parenting and child ANS physiology.•A total of M = 103 studies (N = 13,044 participants) identified for inclusion.•Results revealed nonsignificant overall correlations between parenting and child ANS.•Positive parenting linked to higher resting PNS activity among intervention studies.•Positive parenting linked to higher resting PNS activity among clinical samples.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-2 ObjectType-Undefined-4 Grant S. Shields is now at the Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701 Nicholas V. Alen is now at the Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, Germany
ISSN:	0149-7634 1873-7528
DOI:	10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104734