Childhood trauma, intraindividual reaction time variability, baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and perceived relapse tendency among males with substance use disorders

ABSTRACT

Background: People with substance use disorders (SUDs) who have experienced serious childhood trauma may have executive function impairments contributing to relapse. Baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reflects physiological regulation capacity, which has been found to buffer the negative effects of childhood trauma. Baseline RSA has also been found to be related to intraindividual reaction time variability (IIRTV), which is an index of executive function.

Objectives: The present study examined the relationship between childhood trauma and perceived relapse tendency, the mediation role of IIRTV, and the moderation role of baseline RSA.

Methods: The study is cross-sectional, a total of 110 males with SUDs participated (M_age = 46.45 years, SD = 11.24). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and Intention to Rehabilitate Questionnaire were used to assess childhood trauma and perceived relapse tendency, the two-choice oddball task was used to measure IIRTV, and electrocardiogram (ECG) data were collected to obtain baseline RSA.

Results: IIRTV mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and perceived relapse tendency (Coeff = 0.049, Boot CI [0.004, 0.121]); interaction of childhood trauma and Baseline RSA negatively influences IIRTV (β = –0.208, t = –2.022, p = .046).

Conclusion: The results suggest that males with SUDs who have experienced serious childhood trauma may have executive function impairments that contribute to relapse, and baseline RSA may buffer the negative effect of childhood trauma on IIRTV. These findings suggest that the prevention of relapse through cognitive enhancement can be complemented by the enhancement of physiological regulation.

KEYWORDS:

• SUDs
• childhood trauma
• perceived relapse tendency
• IIRTV
• baseline RSA

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the participants, and staff from the center and association. We also acknowledge the Drug Rehabilitation Association of Shaanxi and the Shaanxi Chang’an Compulsory Substance Rehabilitation Center (Shaanxi Province, China) for supporting this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. To facilitate the reader’s access, this scale has been translated into English, following standard practice for questionnaire translation, please see supplementary material for details.

Additional information

Funding

This study has been supported by the STI2030-Major Projects [2021ZD0200500], the Basic Theoretical Research Project of Education and Correction for People with Substance Use Disorders [H20210130], the Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province [2021P008] and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2021M702064].