The role of oxytocin in early mother-infant interactions: Variations in maternal affect attunement |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China;2. Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing 400715, China;3. School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China;1. Jewish General Hospital, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research & McGill University, Department of Psychiatry, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;2. Jewish General Hospital & Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;3. McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;4. Centre for Nursing Research, Jewish General Hospital & McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;5. Department of Philosophy & Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;6. Jewish General Hospital & McGill University, Department of Psychiatry & Family Medicine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;7. McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute & McGill University, Department of Psychiatry, Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
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| Abstract: | The aim of the present research was to investigate the relationship between oxytocin and maternal affect attunement, as well as the role of affect attunement in the relationship between oxytocin and infant social engagement during early mother-infant interactions. Forty-three mother-infant dyads participated in the present study when infants were 4 months. They were observed during (1) a situation where no communication took place and (2) a natural interaction between mother and infant. During this procedure, three saliva samples from mothers and their infants were collected to determine their levels of oxytocin at different time points. Maternal affect attunement (maintaining attention, warm sensitivity) and infant interactive behaviors (gaze, positive, and negative affect) were coded during the natural interaction. Results indicated that overall maternal oxytocin functioning was negatively related to her warm sensitivity, while infant oxytocin reactivity together with maternal affect attunement were associated with infant positive social engagement with their mothers. Specifically, infant oxytocin reactivity was significantly related to their gazes at mother, but only for infants of highly attuned mothers. These results point to the complex role oxytocin plays in parent-infant interactions while emphasizing the need to analyze both overall oxytocin functioning as well as reactivity as different indices of human affiliative behavior. |
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| Keywords: | Maternal affect attunement Infant interactive behaviors Salivary oxytocin Early social interactions |
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