A systematic review on parent-child synchrony: the role of stress, resilience and psychopathology

Biobehavioral synchrony is defined as a reciprocal and temporal coordination that can be observed during interpersonal interactions between two or more individuals. It can encompass facial expressions, vocalization, mutual gaze as well as other physiological measures. Synchrony has commonly been measured in interactional exchanges highlighting the relational qualities and the content of the interactions between individuals. Recent literature assessed synchrony by stress-inducing tasks or while measuring stress in individuals during interactions, to index an interaction between stress and synchrony. This study provides the first systematic review to understand which role synchrony plays within families in the context of stress. A systematic search was conducted on Scopus, PubMed and PsycNET. A total of 56 English, peer-reviewed articles assessing biobehavioral synchrony together with stress or resilience in the family context were selected.