# The Interpersonal Dynamics of Violence Exposure and Adolescents' Autonomic Regulation

> **NIH NIH R03** · WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $91,914

## Abstract

Project Summary
 In a given year, over 60% of adolescents in the U.S. directly experience interpersonal violence or witness
family or community violence. Although exposure to interpersonal violence increases adolescents’ risk for
numerous psychosocial difficulties, not all adolescents develop problems. Physiological stress regulation is a
critical factor underlying the vulnerability of violence-exposed youth. A growing body of evidence links
interpersonal violence exposure to aberrant patterns of arousal and regulation in parasympathetic (PNS) and
sympathetic (SNS) activity, particularly to social challenges. It is believed that the dynamics of interpersonal
violence (betrayal, stigmatization, powerlessness) render youth more likely to perceive interpersonal stressors
as threatening and mobilize threat-related ANS stress responses. Unfortunately, research evaluating these
claims is limited in important ways, leaving significant knowledge gaps regarding (1) how violence-exposed
adolescents regulate autonomic responses in age-normative interactions that pull for interpersonal violence
dynamics and (2) whether adolescents’ autonomic responses in these contexts are related to psychosocial
functioning across domains (e.g., mental health, interpersonal functioning, health risk behavior). The proposed
project adds to a recently awarded NIH grant that will validate a developmentally sensitive assessment of
these violence dynamics using virtual reality (VR) technology (HD092956). Specifically, this project will add
assessments of autonomic regulation (heart rate variability and cardiac pre-ejection period) to the VR
assessment to examine associations between adolescents’ violence exposure, ANS regulation during the VR
assessment, and adolescent adjustment across various domains (mental health, interpersonal functioning, and
health risk behavior). We will also explore potential moderators of these associations, including gender and
parenting, as well as individual differences in the synchrony of PNS and SNS regulation. Findings will advance
knowledge of how adolescents regulate stress during age-normative interpersonal challenges and inform the
development of larger prospective studies that can examine longitudinal relations between violence exposure,
stress regulation in real world contexts, and adolescent adjustment. Since the VR assessment is highly
portable, it can be disseminated broadly to researchers to further advance theory and research on the
cascading effects of violence exposure on stress regulation and adjustment. In addition, our paradigm could be
incorporated into clinical research on trauma-informed interventions targeting stress regulation and violence
dynamics or provide a platform for new interventions for improving stress regulation and enhancing
competencies through the rehearsal of triggering or age-salient challenging interactions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9988473
- **Project number:** 5R03HD099700-02
- **Recipient organization:** WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Gregory James Norman
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $91,914
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-05 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9988473

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9988473, The Interpersonal Dynamics of Violence Exposure and Adolescents' Autonomic Regulation (5R03HD099700-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9988473. Licensed CC0.

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