Psychological Distress among Young People: the moderating role of heart rate variability in the relationship with maladaptive metacognitions

Psychological distress among youth is emerging as a problem of considerable clinical relevance. Both maladaptive metacognitions and low resting HRV have been linked independently to several psychological problems. In the present study, we investigated the role of maladaptive metacognitions (i.e., cognitive confidence, positive beliefs about rumination, negative beliefs about uncontrollability and danger, need to control thoughts) in relation to psychological distress in a sample of young adults, as well as the potential moderating effect of resting HRV. Self-reported metacognitions and psychological distress were assessed in 43 participants. The electrocardiogram was recorded for 5 minutes during rest and HRV was computed as the root mean square of the successive differences in the interbeat intervals (rMSSD). The results showed that some maladaptive metacognitions, i.e., positive and negative belief about worry, were positively associated with psychological distress. Furthermore, slope analysis showed that reduced maladaptive cognitive self-consciousness was associated with lower stress levels in participants with higher resting HRV. This evidence supports the idea that high resting HRV may be a protective factor against the development of psychological distress among youth. We should therefore consider resting HRV as a potential target for planning preventive interventions applicable in different contexts in which young people may be subject to psychological distress, such as school and work.