The role of resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia in the family functioning-internet addiction symptoms link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.02.012Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RRSA) is a biomarker of emotion regulation.

  • RRSA interacted with family functioning to relate to young adults' internet addiction (IA).

  • Poorer family functioning combined with higher RRSA to relate to higher IA.

Abstract

Background

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been understood as a physiological marker of emotional regulatory capacity. To date, little is known about the potential psychophysiological contributions to which influence the family functioning on young adult's internet addiction (IA) symptoms. The aim of this research was to examine the moderating role of resting RSA and its link between family functioning and IA symptoms.

Method

One-hundred and nine participants (69 men) aged between 17 and 21 years old completed questionnaires on family functioning and IA symptoms. Data pertaining to RSA was collected during a resting period in the laboratory.

Results

Resting RSA moderated the association between family functioning and IA symptoms. Specifically, poorer family functioning was related to higher levels of IA symptoms particularly for participants with low resting RSA. When the participants' resting RSA was high, family functioning showed no significant relation with IA symptoms.

Conclusion

Our findings indicated that lower resting RSA may place young adults at greater risk for IA symptoms. This occurs when exposed to poorer family functioning. Furthermore, high resting RSA may serve as a protective factor that alleviates the detrimental influences of poor family functioning on IA symptoms. These findings highlight that contemporaneous consideration is needed for both contextual and physiological factors. This can help to advance persons understanding of internet addictive behaviors in young adults.

Introduction

Internet addiction (IA) or problematic internet use, is defined as: individuals characterized by using the internet in a compulsive and uncontrollable manner (Seki et al., 2019; Young, 1998), which could create psychological, social, educational and/or work difficulties (Geng et al., 2018; Gu, 2020; Spada, 2014; Zhai et al., 2019). Numerous empirical investigations have linked higher levels of IA symptoms to many adverse outcomes including health problems (Tsitsika et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2014), poor academic achievement (Zhang et al., 2018a), and psychosocial problems such as psychological distress, aggressive behaviors and even psychiatric disorder and suicidal ideation (Anand et al., 2018; Ko et al., 2009b; Ko et al., 2012; Sami et al., 2018; Yen et al., 2014). It is therefore imperative to understand factors that may place individuals at increased risk for developing IA symptoms. In the current study, we sought to explore the combined effect of contextual (i.e., family functioning) and individual physiological (i.e., resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia; resting RSA) factors on young adults' IA symptoms.

Researchers have identified a number of external family factors that are related to IA, such as parenting style, attachment and marital quality of parents (Chi et al., 2020; Gao et al., 2018; Liu, 2020; Ko et al., 2015). Among those factors, family functioning has been thought to be one of the most important ones, reason being the crucial role it plays in individuals psychological and social adaptation skills (Ko, et al., 2015; Li et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2019). Beyond the influences of other family factors (focused on one facet of the family impacts offspring), family functioning refers to a variety of characteristics of family environments as well as how a whole family system works (Deng & Zheng, 2012; Shi et al., 2017; Ross and Buriel, 2006). The family system theory (Beavers & Hampson, 2000) and the process model of family functioning (Skinner et al., 2000) have both proposed that the better the functioning of the family, the better the physical and psychological health status of the family members (Pan et al., 2020). In addition, considerable empirical studies have shown that healthy family functioning is negatively associated with IA, while poor family functioning might increase the likelihood of addiction (Jung and Shim, 2012; Kabasakal, 2015; Li et al., 2018; Shi et al., 2017; Wartberg et al., 2014). For example, Yu and Shek (2013) reported that better perceived family functioning significantly predicted lower probability of having internet addictive behaviors over time among adolescents.

Although poor family functioning is a significant external contextual risk factor for IA (Li et al., 2018; Shi et al., 2017; Wartberg et al., 2014), not all individuals whose exposure to a dysfunctional family will homogeneously become internet addicts (Lerner et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2017; Zhou et al., 2017). Per the forementioned, it is vital to identify factors that may lessen (i.e., moderate) the strength of the relationship between poor family functioning and IA symptoms. According to the ecological system theory, the influence of ecological contexts on personal development might vary as a function of individual/internal characteristics (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 1998). The dual-risk theory also proposes that some people are disproportionately likely to be detrimentally affected by exposure to adverse environments because of their vulnerability characteristics (Monroe and Simons, 1991). In the present study, we have examined whether resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia would act as a moderator in the association between family functioning and internet addiction-related symptoms among young adults.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) refers to the rhythmic fluctuation of the heart rate across the breathing cycle which predominantly reflects the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system (Grossman and Taylor, 2007; Porges, 2011). Resting/basal RSA (i.e., measured at rest) is believed to represent a trait-like individual difference factor that index the capacity for sustaining attention, modulating emotion and engaging with the environment (Zhang et al., 2018b; Grady and Callan, 2019; Porges, 2007). High resting RSA has been investigated intensively as a physiological marker of emotion regulatory capacities and has been associated with behavioral flexibility and adaptive social competence (e.g., Geisler et al., 2013; Porges, 2007; Zisner and Beauchaine, 2016). Low resting RSA has been considered as a significant vulnerability factor for several forms of maladaptive outcomes (Beauchaine, 2015; Campbell et al., 2019; Jacobs et al., 2015) including internet addiction (Lin et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2017).

In addition, accumulating empirical studies have documented how contextual factors interacted with biological factors to predict individuals' adaptation outcomes (Dyer et al., 2016; Eisenberg et al., 2012; El-Sheikh et al., 2013; Holochwost et al., 2018; Obradović et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2018b). For example, Hinnant et al. (2015) found that higher levels of harsh parenting was associated with increased probability of substance use among adolescents with low (but not high) resting RSA (Hinnant et al., 2015). Recently, Zhang et al. (2017) showed that higher parental marital conflict positively predicted addictive internet use, but only for young men who exhibited lower levels of resting RSA. These findings suggest that high resting RSA may be served as an important protective factor to ameliorate the adverse effects of contextual risk factors. To date, however, little is known about whether the association between family functioning and IA symptoms is varied by individuals' resting RSA.

To sum up, the goal of the present study was to examine the role of resting RSA as a moderator in the association between family functioning and IA symptoms among young adults. Based on the existing theoretical and empirical work, we attempted to predict if resting RSA would moderate the relation of family functioning with young adults' IA symptoms. This was done to the extent that poorer family functioning would be more strongly related to higher IA symptoms among young adults showing lower resting RSA, compared with those showing higher resting RSA. In other words, lower resting RSA would exacerbate the negative influence of poor family functioning on IA symptoms.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants consist of 109 college students from 17 to 21 years of age (Mage = 18.94 years, SD = 0.916; 69 men). They were recruited from universities in northwestern China via flyers and advertisements. A priori power analysis indicated that at least 85 subjects were required for performing the multiple regression analyses (including 4 predictors: sex, family functioning, resting RSA, and family functioning × resting RSA) with a medium effect size (i.e., f 2 = 0.15) and a power of 0.80. Data

Zero-order correlations

Descriptive statistics and correlations among the study variables can be found in Table 1, Table 2, respectively. We found that scores on the CFAM_G were significantly, positively associated with scores on the CIAS (p = 0.006). Resting RSA was significantly, negatively related to scores on the CIAS (p = 0.046). No other statistically significant correlations were found (ps > 0.05).

Regression analyses

Results from the multiple hierarchical regression analyses were shown in Table 3. The analyses indicated that

Discussion

The aim of this study was to explore the association between family functioning and young adults' IA symptoms, as well as the potential moderation of this relation by resting RSA. We primarily focused on the issue whether variability in resting RSA helped clarify the nature of the link between family functioning and IA symptoms. As predicted, the present study indicated that resting RSA moderated the association between family functioning and IA symptoms. Specifically, we found that young

Declaration of competing interest

None.

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by Humanity and Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education in China (20YJC190028), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province in China (BK20200719), and the Key Project of Education Science Planning of Guizhou Province in China (2018A022).

References (75)

  • R.H. Jacobs et al.

    Biomarkers of intergenerational risk for depression: a review of mechanisms in longitudinal high-risk (LHR) studies

    J. Affect. Disord.

    (2015)
  • Z. Kabasakal

    Life satisfaction and family functions as-predictors of problematic internet use in university students

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    (2015)
  • C.H. Ko et al.

    Proposed diagnostic criteria and the screening and diagnosing tool of internet addiction in college students

    Compre Psychiat.

    (2009)
  • C.H. Ko et al.

    The associations between aggressive behaviors and Internet addiction and online activities in adolescents

    J. Adolesc. Health

    (2009)
  • C.H. Ko et al.

    The association between internet addiction and psychiatric disorder: a review of the literature

    Eur. Psychiat.

    (2012)
  • G.F. Lewis et al.

    Statistical strategies toquantify respiratory sinus arrhythmia: are commonly used metrics equivalent

    Biol. Psychol.

    (2012)
  • W. Li et al.

    Family factors in internet addiction among Chinese youth: a review of English- and Chinese-language studies

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    (2014)
  • J. Li et al.

    Family functioning and internet addiction among adolescent males and females: a moderated mediation analysis

    Child Youth Serv. Rev.

    (2018)
  • Y.L. Liu

    Maternal mediation as an act of privacy invasion: the association with internet addiction

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    (2020)
  • S.W. Porges

    Cardiac vagal tone: a physiological index of stress

    Biobehav. Rev.

    (1995)
  • S.W. Porges

    The polyvagal perspective

    Biol. Psychol.

    (2007)
  • H. Sami et al.

    The effect of sleep disturbances and internet addiction on suicidal ideation among adolescents in the presence of depressive symptoms

    Psychiatry Res.

    (2018)
  • T. Seki et al.

    Relationship between internet addiction and depression among Japanese university students

    J. Affect. Disord.

    (2019)
  • X. Shi et al.

    Family functioning and internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: the mediating roles of self-esteem and loneliness

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    (2017)
  • M.M. Spada

    An overview of problematic internet use

    Addict. Behav.

    (2014)
  • C.F. Yen et al.

    The association of internet addiction symptoms with anxiety, depression and self-esteem among adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

    Compr. Psychiatry

    (2014)
  • L. Yu et al.

    Internet addiction in Hong Kong adolescents: a three-year longitudinal study

    J. Pediatr. Adolesc. Gynecol.

    (2013)
  • B. Zhai et al.

    Peer victimization and problematic internet use in adolescents: the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation and the moderating role of family functioning

    Addict. Behav.

    (2019)
  • H. Zhang et al.

    Associations between narcissism and emotion regulation difficulties: respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity as a moderator

    Biol. Psychol.

    (2015)
  • H. Zhang et al.

    Young adults’ internet addiction: prediction by the interaction of parental marital conflict and respiratory sinus arrhythmia

    Int. J. Psychophysiol.

    (2017)
  • H. Zhang et al.

    The utility of combining respiratory sinus arrhythmia indices in association with internet addiction

    Int. J. Psychophysiol.

    (2020)
  • Y. Zhang et al.

    Adolescents’ academic engagement mediates the association between internet addiction and academic achievement: the moderating effect of classroom achievement norm

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    (2018)
  • R.P. Zhang et al.

    Parenting styles and internet addiction in Chinese adolescents: conscientiousness as a mediator and teacher support as a moderator

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    (2019)
  • Y. Zhou et al.

    Interparental conflict and adolescent internet addiction: the mediating role of emotional insecurity and the moderating role of big five personality traits

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    (2017)
  • L.S. Aiken et al.

    Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions

    (1991)
  • W.R Bearvers et al.

    The Beavers Systems Model of Family Functioning

    J. Fam. Ther

    (2000)
  • T.P. Beauchaine

    Vagal tone, development, and Gray's motivational theory: toward an integrated model of autonomic nervous system functioning in psychopathology

    Dev. Psychopathol.

    (2001)
  • Cited by (10)

    • Associations of resilience and respiratory sinus arrhythmia with alienation among college students

      2023, Journal of Affective Disorders
      Citation Excerpt :

      Those artifacts-scored epochs were removed from the analysis. RSA values were generated by AcqKnowledge automated function following the well-valid peak-valley method (time domain), in which RSA was calculated in milliseconds as the difference between the maximum heart period associated with expiration and the minimum heart period associated with inspiration for each respiratory cycle (Grossman et al., 1990; Zhang and Gao, 2015; Zhang et al., 2021). All RSA scores were then subjected to a natural logarithm transformation to make them approximately normally distributed and to obtain a unit of ln (ms2) (Zhang et al., 2015, 2017, 2021).

    • The relation of baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia to problematic internet use: Impulsiveness and difficulties in emotion regulation matter

      2022, International Journal of Psychophysiology
      Citation Excerpt :

      RSA was calculated by means of differences between the maximum heart period associated with expiration and the minimum heart period associated with inspiration for each respiratory cycle, which was derived by AcqKnowledge automated function following the Peak-to-Valley method (Grossman et al., 1990). RSA zero scores (about 0.35% of during resting state) were excluded from the analysis (Grossman et al., 1990; Zhang et al., 2021).2 Besides, the natural logarithm (ln) transformation was performed on all RSA data to normalize the distribution.

    • Dispositional pessimism is related to reduced respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity to a psychosocial stressor

      2022, Neuroscience Letters
      Citation Excerpt :

      ECG signals were assessed using the BIOPAC ECG100C amplifier with three Ag/AgC1 disposable electrodes put at a standard lead II configuration. The raw ECG data were visually checked for artifacts, and converted to R-R intervals by the AcqKnowledge automated modified Pan-Tompkins QRS detector [26]. Heart rate (HR) was evaluated from R-R intervals in the ECG.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text