Evaluating Emotional and Biological Sensitivity to Maternal Behavior among Self-injuring and Depressed Adolescent Girls Using Nonlinear Dynamics

Abstract

High sensitivity and reactivity to behaviors of family members characterizes several forms of psychopathology, including self-inflicted injury (SII). We examined mother-daughter behavioral and psychophysiological reactivity during a conflict discussion using nonlinear dynamics to assess asymmetrical associations within time-series data. Depressed, SII, and control adolescents and their mothers participated (n=76 dyads). We expected that (1) mothers' evocative behaviors would affect behavioral and psychophysiological reactivity among depressed and, especially, SII adolescents, (2) adolescents' behaviors would not evoke mothers' behavioral or physiological reactivity, and (3) control teens and mothers would be less reactive, with no dynamic associations in either direction. Convergent cross-mapping with dewdrop regression, which identifies directional associations, indicated that mothers' behaviors evoked behavioral responses among depressed and SII participants, but psychophysiological reactivity for SII teens only. There were no effects of adolescents' behavior on mothers' reactivity. Results are interpreted based upon sensitivity theories and directions for further research are outlined.

Figures

Figure 1

MCCM graphs showing results from adolescent behaviors driving mother behaviors/physiology (top) and mother behaviors driving adolescent behaviors/physiology (bottom) with separate lines and confidence intervals for each group. The second row shows a significant driving effect of mother behavior on adolescent behavior for the depressed and self-injuring groups and on adolescent physiology for the self-injuring group.