Lebowitz Eli R, Silverman Wendy K, Martino Alyssa M, Zagoory-Sharon Orna, Feldman Ruth, Leckman James F
Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Gonda Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Depress Anxiety. 2017 Feb;34(2):127-136. doi: 10.1002/da.22585. Epub 2017 Jan 3.
Anxiety disorders are common in youth and cause significant distress and impairment to the individual and family. Oxytocin (OT), a nine amino acid peptide, is implicated in anxiety regulation and modulation of close interpersonal and attachment behavior. Anxiety disorders have been linked to low levels of salivary OT in youth. Research has also linked oxytocinergic functioning to social support, warm contact, and bonding, and indicated that contact with attachment figures stimulates OT response. We examined OT response to a brief, positive youth-mother interaction in clinically anxious youth. We investigated whether quality of the youth-mother interaction as well as the presence of particular anxiety disorders, are associated with youth OT response.
Salivary OT from 41 youth with primary DSM-5 anxiety disorders was assayed before and after a 7-min youth-mother interaction that was later systematically coded by two reliable coders. Youth and mothers also completed rating scales of youth anxiety symptoms.
Affective touch, maternal sensitivity, maternal intrusiveness, youth engagement, and youth initiative all contributed significantly to predicting youth OT response. Repeated measures analyses showed that when affective touch was high youth had greater OT response. OT response was positively associated with the presence of separation anxiety disorder (SAD) and with child ratings of separation anxiety.
The findings highlight the importance of maternal and dyadic behavior patterns to oxytocinergic response in clinically anxious youth, shed light on the association between OT and SAD, and point to possible intervention strategies.
焦虑症在青少年中很常见，会给个人和家庭带来极大的痛苦和损害。催产素（OT）是一种由九个氨基酸组成的肽，与焦虑调节以及亲密人际关系和依恋行为的调节有关。焦虑症与青少年唾液中OT水平较低有关。研究还将催产素功能与社会支持、温暖接触和情感联系起来，并表明与依恋对象的接触会刺激OT反应。我们研究了临床焦虑青少年对短暂、积极的青少年 - 母亲互动的OT反应。我们调查了青少年 - 母亲互动的质量以及特定焦虑症的存在是否与青少年OT反应相关。
对41名患有原发性DSM - 5焦虑症的青少年在7分钟的青少年 - 母亲互动前后的唾液OT进行检测，随后由两名可靠的编码员对互动进行系统编码。青少年和母亲还完成了青少年焦虑症状的评定量表。
情感触摸、母亲的敏感性、母亲的侵扰性、青少年的参与度和青少年的主动性都对预测青少年OT反应有显著贡献。重复测量分析表明，当情感触摸程度高时，青少年的OT反应更强。OT反应与分离焦虑症（SAD）的存在以及儿童对分离焦虑的评分呈正相关。
这些发现突出了母亲和二元行为模式对临床焦虑青少年催产素反应的重要性，揭示了OT与SAD之间的关联，并指出了可能的干预策略。
