Genetic and peripheral markers of the oxytocin system and parental care jointly support the cross-generational transmission of bonding across three generations

The role of oxytocinergic genes in the intergenerational transmission of parent–child relationship qualities

“…Furthermore, the recent study (Fujiwara et al, 2019) conducted in Japanese sample has shown that the intergenerational transmission of parenting is evident among mothers with the Gallele of OXTR rs53576 (AG/GG); whereas our results coming from Finnish sample show that the transmission is evident only among parents with the A-allele of OXTR rs53576 (AG/AA). The discrepancy in results of Fujiwara et al study and ours may support the suggestion that the effects of OXTR allelic variations on human affiliation may be culture dependent and differ in Caucasian and non-Caucasian populations (for review, see Feldman et al, 2016).…”

“…For example, parenting is operationalized in our study in terms of emotional warmth (also known as closeness and connectedness), which is considered to vary within and between cultures (MacDonald, 1992); whereas Fujiwara and colleagues have focused on overprotection. Overprotection is considered a specific feature of parenting in Asian cultures, being a common practice and being accepted as a social norm in Japan (Fujiwara et al, 2019). Therefore, it might be possible that this culture-specific pattern of parenting may confound the link between parenting and oxytocinergic genes.…”

“…Furthermore, Feldman et al (2012) showed in an Israeli sample of 352 individuals that parents carrying A-allele on the CD38 rs3796863 gene and having experienced warm parental care in childhood provided more sensitive parenting to their infants. The most recent study by Fujiwara et al (2019) using a sample of 345 Japanese participants (comprising 115 family lines of grandmothers, mothers, and their infants) has shown that mothers who experienced higher overprotection in childhood showed more rejection towards their infants when carrying the G-allele of OXTR rs53576 (AG/GG). These three studies relied on retrospective measures of early care quality and had relatively small sample sizes and thus can be seen to provide preliminary evidence for the moderating role of oxytocinergic genes in the context of parenting.…”

How stress can influence brain adaptations to motherhood

“…Furthermore, some mothers are more susceptible to stressful experiences than other mothers based on individual characteristics such as genetic predisposition. Evidence suggests that the impact of childhood adversity on later parenting style is moderated by genetic variations in hormonal receptor expressions ( Fujiwara et al, 2019 , Hiraoka and Nomura, 2019 , Reichl et al, 2019 , Savelieva et al, 2019 , Senese et al, 2017 ). For example, mothers who experienced an overprotective parenting style in their childhood were more likely to exhibit a harsh parenting style with their own children if they carried the G allele on the oxytocin receptor gene ( Fujiwara et al, 2019 ).…”

Intergenerational transmission: Theoretical and methodological issues and an introduction to four Dutch cohorts

“…In addition to direct effects of these genetic variants, GxE interactions have been reported for polymorphisms in these genetic systems, with early life adversity and quality of care that the mothers received from their own parents moderating the effect of the genetic variants on sensitive parenting (for a review see Lomanowska et al, 2017 ). Also, in a three-generation study, the oxytocin system was found to interact with experienced parenting to affect bonding across all three generations ( Fujiwara et al, 2019 ): Mothers who reported high overprotective parenting from grandmothers showed more rejection toward their infants and had lower oxytocin levels only when they were OXTRrs53576 G carriers (AG/GG). Comparably, grandmothers who reported higher overprotection from great-grandmothers showed poorer parenting style only when they were OXTRrs2254298 GG carriers.…”