The left-cradling bias and its relationship with empathy and depression

Abstract

Women usually cradle their infants to the left of their body midline. Research showed that the left cradling could be altered by affective symptoms in mothers, so that right cradling might be associated with a reduced ability to become emotionally involved with the infant. In this study, we assessed cradling-side bias (using family photo inspection and an imagination task), as well as depression and empathy, in 50 healthy mothers of 0–3 years old children. The main finding was that the strength of the left-cradling bias was negatively related with participants’ depression scores and slightly positively related with their empathy scores. Our results thus provide further evidence that cradling-side preferences can represent an evolutionary proxy of mother’s affective state, influencing the early development of the infant social brain and behaviour.

Received Cradling Bias During the First Year of Life: A Retrospective Study on Children With Typical and Atypical Development

“…These studies indicated that autistic symptoms involve not only social communication and repetitive behaviors, but also influence to some extent motor capacities and the regulation of attention and emotion (59). Analogously, previous findings seem to endorse the opinion that empathy (37,38), social attachment (35,39), and emotion lateralization (13,14) strongly affect early lateral cradling preferences in females. Moreover, a recent study conducted by Forrester and colleagues (60) suggested interesting associations between left-cradling bias and enhanced social processing abilities in (typically developing) 5-6 years old children.…”

“…No difference was found in lateral cradling preferences between the mothers of typical and autistic children in the first three months after delivery, that is the period in which leftcradling bias is particularly strong in healthy mothers (3,4,10) but not in mothers with affective symptoms such as stress, anxiety or depression (38,62,63). The left-cradling bias was clearly apparent from photos of the first age group (0-3 months) in both groups: significantly in typical children and trending towards significance in ASD children (probably due to the smaller sample size).…”

“…On the other hand, "advanced" holding relationships are characterized by a considerable involvement between the cradling and cradled individuals (e.g., a mother with her infant) (6,64). In this case, the mother could gradually adjust her lateral preference in response to the infant's activity, and there might be more room for the effect of affective or psychological factors [e.g., insecure attachment, lack of empathy, depression (38,39)]. Thus, it could be speculated that mother-infant relationships involving children later diagnosed with ASD might remain "basic" because mothers experience a lack of social activity in such children.…”

“…Pileggi and colleagues (35), assuming that the left-cradling bias is fostered by instinctive and right-hemisphere-localized attachment processes that allow individuals to relate to others, found that left-cradling bias is absent in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a population characterized by chronic and severe impairment in empathizing competencies and social relations (36). These findings were corroborated by Fleva and Kahn (37), who showed a negative correlation between left-cradling bias and the presence of autistic traits in adults, and by Malatesta and colleagues, who showed positive correlations between left-cradling bias and both empathy (38) and secure attachment (39). In this regard, it should be pointed out how, compared with typically developing individuals, those with autism are not biased to facial information from the left visual field, as shown by various studies using both eye-tracking and chimeric faces [e.g., see refs (40,41)].…”

The Relationship Between the Left-Cradling Bias and Attachment to Parents and Partner

“…It should be pointed out that, in the vast literature on cradling behavior focusing on the relationship between lateral cradling preferences and attachment styles, this is the first report to exploit ad hoc instruments for evaluating the latter. There is convincing evidence supporting the link between cradling asymmetries and various instances of emotional and affective behaviors, such as the establishment of an emotional bond between the cradling and cradled individuals, the interpretation of emotional signals of well-being in children, and the presence of affective symptoms such as depression and anxiety in mothers (Malatesta, Marzoli, Rapino, & Tommasi, 2019;Scola, Arciszewski, Measelle, & Vauclair, 2013;Sieratzki & Woll, 2002;Weatherill et al, 2004). Likewise, there is compelling evidence that positive attachment styles are related positively to optimal caregiving behaviors, organized maternal responsiveness to the emotional states of the child and greater parental investment, as well as negatively to mother's affective mental states, such as depression and anxiety (Belsky et al, 1991;Bifulco, Moran, Ball, & Lillie, 2002;Del Giudice, 2009;Marazziti et al, 2007;Seifer et al, 1996).…”