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The Association between Resting Cardiac Vagal Tone and Facets of Perseveration: Sex as a Moderating Factor

Gerardo, Gina
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500557347613843

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Psychology.
Perseverative cognition, defined as repeated activation of cognitive representations of a stressor, is connected with poor outcomes in physical and psychological health. Relatively high resting heart rate variability (HRV) is frequently linked to adaptive use of emotion regulation abilities and behavioral inhibition, and individuals with higher HRV show greater activity of executive regions of the brain. Emotion regulation is defined as the adaptation of emotional experiences, expressions, and physiological responses to an organism’s environment. As lower HRV is related to lower inhibitory control and difficulties in emotion regulation, the Perseverative Cognition Hypothesis theorizes that lower HRV may predict whether an individual may be susceptible to perseveration and experience subsequent negative outcomes (e.g., anxiety). Importantly, sex differences in resting HRV have been documented, and a recent study indicated that sex moderates the aforementioned association between resting HRV and emotion regulation abilities. Additionally, another study showed resting HRV to predict self-reported maladaptive, but not potentially neutral, forms of perseveration; however, sex was not considered as a moderating factor. The present study therefore builds upon this prior research by investigating whether sex differences play a role in the established relationship between HRV and emotion regulation strategies such as perseveration. In particular, my study assesses a potential moderating effect of sex on the relationship between HRV and three different facets of rumination. To assess this relationship, participants (n = 298) in the study first completed a 5-minute resting-baseline period where resting HRV was recorded via electrocardiogram (ECG); and was quantified as the root mean square of successive differences. Participants then completed the Ruminative Responses Scale, designed to assess total ruminative tendencies, in addition to three subscales: depressive rumination (sadness and despair), brooding rumination (wallowing and sulking), and reflective rumination (problem solving and analyzing). Controlling for important covariates, sex did not significantly moderate the relationship between HRV and total rumination, depressive rumination, or brooding rumination. However, sex significantly moderated the association between HRV and reflective rumination. Conditional analyses showed a significant negative association between HRV and reflective rumination in women, but not men. In a subsample of participants, results also showed that reflective rumination mediated the relationship between resting HRV and trait anxiety in women only. This pattern of data is similar to aforementioned sex differences in the association between resting HRV and emotion regulation abilities, and extends them to the domain of emotion regulation strategies (i.e., rumination) as well as related maladaptive psychological outcomes (i.e., anxiety). Overall, the current results suggest that women and men differ in which forms of perseveration may be characterized as non-harmful or maladaptive – I propose that research should consider sex as an important demographic in better understanding the link between stress vulnerability, perseveration, and disease.
Julian Thayer (Advisor)
Baldwin Way (Committee Member)
Michael Vasey (Committee Member)
61 p.
Psychology
Perseverative cognition; Resting Cardiac Vagal Tone and Facets of Perseveration

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Gerardo, G. (2017). The Association between Resting Cardiac Vagal Tone and Facets of Perseveration: Sex as a Moderating Factor [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500557347613843

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gerardo, Gina. The Association between Resting Cardiac Vagal Tone and Facets of Perseveration: Sex as a Moderating Factor. 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500557347613843.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gerardo, Gina. "The Association between Resting Cardiac Vagal Tone and Facets of Perseveration: Sex as a Moderating Factor." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500557347613843

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1500557347613843
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.