Longitudinal links between parental harsh discipline and executive function in adolescence: Moderating role of resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia

Background: Although the link between parental harsh discipline and children's executive function has been established, it remains unclear whether key aspects of parental harsh discipline – corporal punishment and psychological aggression – are uniquely related to adolescent executive function, and whether these relations vary by individual vagal tone as indexed by resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Objective: This longitudinal study aimed to clarify above questions. Participants and Setting: A total of 233 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 12.86 years, 51.50% female-) participated in this study. Methods: In September 2024 (T1), participants rated parental corporal punishment, psychological aggression, and executive function. They also participated in a 3-minute resting electrocardiogram (ECG) recording to assess resting RSA. In March 2025 (T2), they rated executive function again. Results: Parental corporal punishment was negatively related to T2 executive function (β =– −.18, p < .05), whereas psychological aggression showed no significant association (β = −.06, p = .45). Moreover, resting RSA moderated these relations (for corporal punishment and executive function: β = .14, p < .05; for psychological aggression and executive function: β = .22, p < .001). That is, corporal punishment and psychological aggression at T1 were both negatively related to T2 executive function among adolescents with lower resting RSA, but not among those with higher resting RSA. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that aspects of parental harsh discipline have distinct associations with adolescent executive function, and highlight the necessity of incorporating physiological markers of individual differences, particularly resting RSA, to better understand executive function in adolescents.