Does Parasympathetic Nervous System Activity Exacerbate Depressive Symptoms in College Students Who Experienced Parent–Child Separation? A Longitudinal Examination

Childhood separation caused by parental migration increases the risk ofsuffering depressive symptoms among college students. However, most studies in thisfield have focused on environmental factors and largely ignored the role ofphysiological reactivity to stress (e.g., parasympathetic nervous system activity)in this process. The present study examined the long-term effects of theparent–child separation experience on depressive symptoms in collegestudents, and explored the moderating role of parasympathetic nervous system (PNS)activity in these relationships. The participants were 242 college students(M_age = 18.74 years, SD = 0.79; 32.2% male), including 149college students who experienced parent–child separation and 93 collegestudents without this experience. Using a three-wave longitudinal design,participants completed the measures of the parent–child separationexperience, PNS activity (measured via respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA), anddepressive symptoms at Time 1 (T1, before the COVID-19 lockdown). Their depressivesymptoms were again measured at Time 2 (T2, during the COVID-19 lockdown) and Time 3(T3, after the COVID-19 lockdown). The results showed that the parent–childseparation experience positively predicted depressive symptoms in college studentsat three time points. Moreover, the parent–child separation experiencepositively predicted depressive symptoms at T2 among males with less and average RSAsuppression but positively predicted depressive symptoms at T2 among females withgreater RSA suppression. These findings indicate a long-term effect ofparent–child separation on depressive symptoms in college students thatstill exist after they entered university, and that the effect varies depending onPNS activity and gender.