Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Aug 15;68(4):377-82. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.005. Epub 2010 Mar 31.
The nonapeptide oxytocin (OT) has been repeatedly implicated in processes of parent-infant bonding in animal models; yet, its role in the development of human parenting has received less attention and no research has addressed the involvement of OT in the transition to fatherhood.
Using a prospective longitudinal design, 160 cohabitating mothers and fathers and their firstborn infant were visited at home during the first postpartum weeks and again at 6 months postpartum. Mothers' and fathers' plasma OT was analyzed at each time point with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methodology. Interactions between each parent and the infant were observed in the postpartum and microcoded for parenting behavior.
Overall, parental OT increased across the study period and there were no differences between maternal and paternal OT at each time point. Oxytocin showed high intraindividual stability across the first 6 months of parenting and the OT levels of husband and wife were interrelated at both assessments. Maternal OT was related to the amount of affectionate parenting behaviors, including "motherese" vocalizations, the expression of positive affect, and affectionate touch, whereas paternal OT correlated with the degree of stimulatory parenting behaviors, including proprioceptive contact, tactile stimulation, and object presentation.
Results are the first to describe plasma OT levels in new fathers and mothers across the transition to parenthood in relation to maternal and paternal typical parenting behaviors. These data may provide a normative basis for the study of parenting under conditions of high risk.
神经肽催产素（OT）在动物模型中反复涉及到母婴联系的过程；然而，其在人类育儿发展中的作用受到的关注较少，没有研究涉及 OT 在向父亲身份转变中的作用。
使用前瞻性纵向设计，在产后第一周和 6 个月时，在家中对 160 对同居的母亲和父亲及其第一个婴儿进行了访问。使用酶联免疫吸附测定法分析了每个时间点母亲和父亲的血浆 OT。在产后期间观察了每个父母与婴儿的互动，并对育儿行为进行了微编码。
总体而言，父母的 OT 在研究期间增加，并且在每个时间点母亲和父亲的 OT 之间没有差异。OT 在父母养育的前 6 个月内具有较高的个体内稳定性，并且夫妻双方的 OT 水平在两个评估中均相关。母亲的 OT 与亲情养育行为的数量有关，包括“母亲语”发声、积极情感的表达和亲情接触，而父亲的 OT 与刺激性养育行为的程度有关，包括本体感受接触、触觉刺激和物体呈现。
这些结果是首次描述了新父亲和母亲在向父母身份转变过程中的血浆 OT 水平与母婴典型育儿行为的关系。这些数据可能为高风险条件下的育儿研究提供了一个规范基础。
