Resting heart rate variability moderates the relationship between trait emotional competencies and depression

Objective: A lot of studies have shown that low Emotional Competencies (EC) is associated with depression and anxiety. However, little is known about the psychophysiological processes accounting for these relationships. As heart rate variability (HRV) is thought to be a measure of top-down self-regulatory mechanisms it could impact the link between EC and depression/anxiety. Thus, the aim of this study was to disentangle the interplay between EC and HRV on depression as well as anxiety. Method: Resting HRV was collected among 97 undergraduate students that filled out EC, depression and anxiety measures. Results: We observed negatives associations between EC and depression/anxiety. HRV was negatively associated with depression but not with anxiety. There was an interaction effect between EC and HRV showing that EC and depression were associated only at low levels of HRV. Conclusions: Our study suggests that HRV could be a protective factor against the negative consequences of low EC such as depression.