Journal
EMOTION
Volume 13, Issue 4, Pages 599-604Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/a0032725
Keywords
cardiac vagal tone; parasympathetic; well-being; happiness; depression
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Parasympathetic regulation of heart rate through the vagus nerve-often measured as resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia or cardiac vagal tone (CVT)-is a key biological correlate of psychological well-being. However, recent theorizing has suggested that many biological and psychological processes can become maladaptive when they reach extreme levels. This raises the possibility that CVT might not have an unmitigated positive relationship with well-being. In line with this reasoning, across 231 adult participants (M-age = 40.02 years; 52% female), we found that CVT was quadratically related to multiple measures of well-being, including life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Individuals with moderate CVT had higher well-being than those with low or high CVT. These results provide the first direct evidence of a nonlinear relationship between CVT and well-being, adding to a growing body of research that has suggested some biological processes may cease being adaptive when they reach extreme levels.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available