Examining basal RSA as a possible moderator of the effects of cumulative risk on preadolescent appraisal, coping, and adjustment: A mediated moderation model

Abstract

Children who have been exposed to cumulative risk (CR) are more likely to have poor physical and psychological health across the lifespan. It has been proposed that early multiple risk exposure contributes to children’s adjustment, in part through their effects on children’s appraisal and coping. However, it remains unknown how individual differences in children’s underlying physiological arousal might differentiate the longitudinal effect of CR on appraisal, coping, and in turn adjustment. The objective of the current study was to examine the additive and interactive effects of CR and individual differences in basal RSA in early childhood on preadolescent adjustment and to test whether these relations were mediated by preadolescent appraisal and coping within a community sample of (N=306) of children. Multiple informants and methods were used to measure CR and basal RSA across four time points in early childhood (M age at T1 = 36 mo., T2 = 45 mo., T3 = 54 mo., T4 = 63mo.), and preadolescent appraisal, coping, and adjustment (M age = 11yr.). Path analyses demonstrated basal RSA did not moderate the effect of CR on appraisal, coping, and adjustment. Children exposed to higher levels of CR were more likely to experience internalizing and externalizing problems in preadolescence, and this effect was partially mediated by threat appraisal, although the directionality of these relations were unexpected. Despite a lack of mediation among the other dimensions of appraisal and coping, they were associated with concurrent levels of preadolescent adjustment. Findings suggest interventions aimed at promoting appraisal and coping skills may have short-term impacts on adjustment in preadolescence, but a lasting longitudinal effect of early childhood CR on preadolescent adjustment, above the effects of income, suggest community-level interventions aimed at reducing exposure to risk in early childhood might be more effective than individual-level attempts to teach appraisal and coping skills later in life.