Explicit and implicit caregiving interests in expectant fathers: Do endogenous and exogenous oxytocin and vasopressin matter?

Cohen-Bendahan, Celina C. C.; Beijers, Roseriet; Doornen, Lorenz J.P. van; Weerth, Carolina de

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.06.007

Cited by 40 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The administration of OT may also induce cognitive modulation among fathers in the post‐perceptual stages of attachment‐related face processing, especially among secure fathers, as seen in EEG. However, a recent study in an immersive virtual environment has shown that endogenous OT basal level was not related to caregiving interest in fathers‐to‐be, and was not different in control men. Furthermore, exogenous OT also produced no effect on the behavior of fathers‐to‐be or control men.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Previous findings in parent sensitivity suggest that peripheral OT levels increase in both parents during the first weeks post‐partum, but a sex‐specific relationship was found between parental OT and behaviors during dyadic interactions: affectionate behavior is associated with maternal OT, while stimulatory behavior is associated with paternal OT . Several authors have underlined the role of OT in the development of synchrony, and the difference between patterns of maternal and paternal care. More specifically, OT was associated with father–infant affect synchrony in social and affective contexts .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychophysiological effects of oxytocin on parent–child interactions: A literature review on oxytocin and parent–child interactions

Szymanska

Schneider

Chateau-Smith

et al. 2017

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

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Oxytocin (OT), often called the 'hormone of love' or 'hormone of attachment,' plays a fundamental role in the establishment and quality of parent-infant bonding. However, emerging evidence indicates that OT can also produce antisocial behavior. To clarify these effects, we review studies examining the role of endogenous and exogenous OT on several determinants of attachment: parental sensitivity, and bonding or synchrony in parent-child dyads. Contextual and individual factors moderating the effect of intranasal OT and its peripheral levels are also reviewed. Finally, potential therapeutic applications for OT and current limitations in human OT research are examined. This systematic literature review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, with two electronic databases and other bibliographic sources. We identified a total of 47 relevant studies for inclusion in our review. Most of the findings are in accordance with recent ideas that OT administration may increase parent-child prosocial interaction, showing that OT exerts beneficial effects on processes thought to promote bonding, sensitivity, and synchrony. However, we found that OT can induce antisocial behavior (e.g., anxiety) or adverse effects (modulation of maternal care recollections) that are moderated by different contextual (e.g., maltreatment level, presence of unfamiliar people) and individual (attachment style) factors. This review reinforces the importance of context- and individual-dependent factors, which must be taken into account when analyzing the psychophysiological effects of OT.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychophysiological effects of oxytocin on parent–child interactions: A literature review on oxytocin and parent–child interactions

Szymanska

Schneider

Chateau-Smith

et al. 2017

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

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“…Similarly, the scope of psychobiological research on OT and human family dynamics is mostly limited to human populations living in large-scale, industrialized societies (i.e., generally in the United States, Europe, or other European-influenced settings; Abraham et al, 2014;Cohen-Bendahan, Beijers, van Doornen, & de Weerth, 2015;Feldman et al, 2012;Mascaro, Hackett, & Rilling, 2014). Yet, even within this relatively narrow slice human experience, there is increasing evidence that OT can serve diverse social neuroendocrine roles that vary by context (Crespi, 2016;Trumble et al, 2015;van Anders et al, 2011).…”

Section: Méthodeismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mothers' and fathers' joint profiles for testosterone and oxytocin in a small‐scale fishing‐farming community: Variation based on marital conflict and paternal contributions

et al. 2019

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Introduction Testosterone and oxytocin are psychobiological mechanisms that interrelate with relationship quality between parents and the quantity and quality of parenting behaviors, thereby affecting child outcomes. Their joint production based on family dynamics has rarely been tested, particularly cross‐culturally. Methods We explored family function and salivary testosterone and oxytocin in mothers and fathers in a small‐scale, fishing‐farming society in Republic of the Congo. Fathers ranked one another in three domains of family life pertaining to the local cultural model of fatherhood. Results Fathers who were viewed as better providers had relatively lower oxytocin and higher testosterone than men seen as poorer providers, who had lower testosterone and higher oxytocin. Fathers also had higher testosterone and lower oxytocin in marriages with more conflict, while those who had less marital conflict had reduced testosterone and higher oxytocin. In contrast, mothers in conflicted marriages showed the opposite profiles of relatively lower testosterone and higher oxytocin. Mothers had higher oxytocin and lower testosterone if fathers were uninvolved as direct caregivers, while mothers showed an opposing pattern for the two hormones if fathers were seen as involved with direct care. Conclusions These results shed new light on parents' dual oxytocin and testosterone profiles in a small‐scale society setting and highlight the flexibility of human parental psychobiology when fathers' roles and functions within families differ across cultures.

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“…In primates, marmoset monkey fathers have increased V1a vasopressin receptor density as well as increased dendritic spine density on neurons in prefrontal cortex (Kozorovitskiy et al, 2006). Finally, intranasal AVP administration increased attention to virtual baby-related avatars in human fathers-to-be (Cohen-Bendahan et al, 2015). However, the role of AVP in human parental behavior, as well as its neural mechanism, has not been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intranasal oxytocin, but not vasopressin, augments neural responses to toddlers in human fathers

Chen

Mascaro

et al. 2017

Hormones and Behavior

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This study investigates paternal brain function with the hope of better understanding the neural basis for variation in caregiving involvement among men. The neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) are implicated in paternal caregiving in humans and other species. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject pharmaco-functional MRI experiment, we randomized 30 fathers of 1–2 year old children to receive either 24 IU intranasal OT before one scan and placebo before the other scan (n = 15) or 20 IU intranasal AVP before one scan and placebo before the other scan (n = 15). Brain function was measured with fMRI as the fathers viewed pictures of their children, unknown children and unknown adults, and as they listened to unknown infant cry stimuli. Intranasal OT, but not AVP, significantly increased the BOLD fMRI response to viewing pictures of own children within the caudate nucleus, a target of midbrain dopamine projections, as well as the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) and visual cortex, suggesting that intranasal oxytocin augments activation in brain regions involved in reward, empathy and attention in human fathers. OT effects also varied as a function of order of administration such that when OT was given before placebo, it increased activation within several reward-related structures (substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, putamen) more than when it was given after placebo. Neither OT nor AVP had significant main effects on the neural response to cries. Our findings suggest that the hormonal changes associated with the transition to fatherhood are likely to facilitate increased approach motivation and empathy for children, and call for future research that evaluates the potential of OT to normalize deficits in paternal motivation, as might be found among men suffering from post-partum depression.

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Explicit and implicit caregiving interests in expectant fathers: Do endogenous and exogenous oxytocin and vasopressin matter?

Cited by 40 publications

References 56 publications

Psychophysiological effects of oxytocin on parent–child interactions: A literature review on oxytocin and parent–child interactions

Psychophysiological effects of oxytocin on parent–child interactions: A literature review on oxytocin and parent–child interactions

Mothers' and fathers' joint profiles for testosterone and oxytocin in a small‐scale fishing‐farming community: Variation based on marital conflict and paternal contributions

Intranasal oxytocin, but not vasopressin, augments neural responses to toddlers in human fathers

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