Economic Hardship, Infant Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Development, and Maternal Affectionate Touch: Resilience in Mexican American Families

Economic hardship confers risk for a multitude of child development outcomes including regulatory development. A wealth of research demonstrates the adverse influence of economic hardship on behavioral regulation, but less clarity exists for physiological levels of regulation. Further, little work has examined how culturally specific parenting practices can promote adaptive physiological development. The present study drew data from 322 low-income, Mexican American mother–infant dyads to examine how economic hardship, parental affectionate touch, and their interactions would relate to changes in infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a physiological index of regulation, from infant age 6 to 24 weeks. Results indicated that perceived economic hardship significantly interacted with parental affectionate touch, such that more perceived economic hardship wasrelatedto a smaller increase in respiratory sinus arrhythmia at average and low levels of affectionate touch. These findings suggest that culturally relevant parenting practices, such as affectionate touch, may protect against the deleterious effects of economic hardship.