Resting State Psychophysiology in Youth with OCD and Their Caregivers: Preliminary Evidence for Trend Synchrony and Links to Family Functioning.

The burden of OCD in children and adolescents extends to their caregivers. Prior work in other disorders and unaffected youth has found synchrony in psychophysiological arousal for youth-caregiver dyads. This preliminary study explored whether psychophysiological trend synchrony in youth-caregiver dyads (N = 48) occurred and was moderated by youth OCD diagnosis. We also explored whether psychophysiological indices (i.e., electrodermal activity, heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia) were correlated with reported family functioning in the OCD subsample (n = 25). Youth with OCD had higher resting heart rate than unaffected peers; this was not replicated in caregivers. Trend synchrony was found across the full sample of dyads for electrodermal activity and heart rate, with no moderation by diagnostic group. In the OCD group, youth heart rate was correlated with family conflict and caregiver heart rate with expressiveness. Findings provide preliminary support for further examination of heart rate and family factors in OCD-affected youth and their caregivers.