Exposure to higher levels of sociodemographic risk is associated with lower levels of academic achievement among young children. However, there is variability in the strength of this association, which may be traced to individual differences in physiological processes underlying self-regulation. In the current study, we examined whether the response of the parasympathetic nervous system to challenge, indexed by change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), moderated the association between risk and school readiness at 5 years of age in a diverse sample of young children. We found that parasympathetic response to the Still-Face Paradigm moderated the effects of risk on a measure of school readiness, such that there was no association between risk and school readiness among children who exhibited RSA decreases during challenge at 6 months of age, a purported index of self-regulation at this age. For those infants who did not exhibit RSA withdrawal during this challenge, exposure to early cumulative risk was associated with lower scores on achievement assessment. These results speak to the possibility that certain patterns of parasympathetic response can serve as a protective factor for young children growing up in disadvantaged environments.

中文翻译：

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婴儿期对挑战的副交感神经反应调节了社会人口学风险对入学时学业成绩的影响

暴露于更高水平的社会人口风险与幼儿的学业成就水平较低有关。然而，这种关联的强度存在差异，这可以追溯到个体在自我调节的生理过程中的差异。在目前的研究中，我们检查了副交感神经系统对挑战的反应，以呼吸性窦性心律失常 (RSA) 的变化为指数，在不同的幼儿样本中，是否缓和了 5 岁时风险和入学准备之间的关联。我们发现，对静脸范式的副交感神经反应缓和了风险对入学准备程度的影响，因此在 6 个月大的挑战期间表现出 RSA 下降的儿童的风险和入学准备之间没有关联，据称是这个年龄的自我调节指数。对于那些在这次挑战中没有表现出 RSA 退出的婴儿，暴露于早期累积风险与较低的成就评估分数相关。这些结果表明，某些副交感神经反应模式可以作为在不利环境中成长的幼儿的保护因素。