The “Heart” of depression during early adolescence

This study examined the concurrent associations linking youths’ parasympathetic nervous system activity, specifically baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (RSAR; vagal withdrawal), with youth depression risk in a community sample of young adolescents. Youth gender was examined as a moderator of associations. Participants included 100 youth (53% boys; M age = 11.05 years, SD = 0.33; 43% ethnic minorities), along with their mothers and teachers. Youth and mothers participated in a laboratory protocol involving a peer problem‐solving conversation, during which youths’ physiological activity was measured. Youth reported on their depressive symptoms. Teachers reported on youth depression risk via internalizing symptoms and emotion regulation (e.g., emotion lability/negativity). Results from regression analyses revealed that youths’ vagal withdrawal during the mother‐youth peer problem conversation was associated with lower youth‐reported depressive symptoms. Further, gender moderated the associations linking youth baseline RSA and RSAR with youth depression risk. Specifically, among girls but not boys, higher baseline RSA was associated with lower depressive symptoms and emotion lability/negativity, and higher RSAR (i.e., vagal withdrawal) was linked with lower internalizing symptoms. Findings contribute to the relatively small literature linking youth parasympathetic functioning with depression risk, and point to specific implications for girls.