Vasopressin Differentially Affects Handgrip Force of Expectant Fathers in Reaction to Own and Unknown Infant Faces

Dijk, Kim Alyousefi‐van; Veer, Anna E. van ‘t; Meijer, Willemijn M.; Lotz, Anna M.; Rijlaarsdam, Jolien; Witteman, Jurriaan; Bakermans‐Kranenburg, Marian J.

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00105

Cited by 17 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Similar preparatory mechanisms, including enhanced sensitivity to vasopressin, may be found in humans. Administering vasopressin to expectant fathers promoted attention to virtual baby‐related avatars (Cohen‐Bendahan, Beijers, Van Doornen, & de Weerth, ), and affected neural and behavioral responses to sounds of infants crying (Alyousefi‐Van Dijk et al, ; Thijssen et al, ), pointing to a role for vasopressin in responding to infant distress. Moreover, vasopressin levels may be related to fathers’ stimulatory interaction with their infants (Abraham & Feldman, ).…”

Section: A Biobehavioral Model Of Emergent Fatherhoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birth of a Father: Fathering in the First 1,000 Days

Bakermans‐Kranenburg

Lotz

Dijk

et al. 2019

Child Dev Perspectives

107

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As a result of societal changes, fathers participate more actively in child care than they used to. In this article, we propose a context‐dependent biobehavioral model of emergent fatherhood in which sociocultural, behavioral, hormonal, and neural factors develop and interact during the first 1,000 days of fatherhood. Sociocultural factors, including different expectations of fathers and varying opportunities for paternal caregiving through paid paternal leave, influence paternal involvement. Levels of hormones (e.g., testosterone, vasopressin, oxytocin, cortisol) predict fathers’ parenting behaviors, and involvement in caregiving in turn affects their hormones and brain responses to infant stimuli. The birth of the first child marks the transition to fatherhood and may be a critical period in men’s lives, with a smoother transition to fatherhood predicting more optimal involvement by fathers in subsequent years. A focus on prenatal and early postnatal fathering may pave the way for developing interventions that effectively support fathering during pregnancy and in the first years of their children’s lives.

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Section: A Biobehavioral Model Of Emergent Fatherhoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birth of a Father: Fathering in the First 1,000 Days

Bakermans‐Kranenburg

Lotz

Dijk

et al. 2019

Child Dev Perspectives

107

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“…However, the intranasal administration of AVP has been shown to result in increased AVP concentrations in both cerebrospinal fluid and blood plasma of healthy adult men and women within 10 min, with effects still present after 80 min (Born et al, 2002). Furthermore, studies have shown that neurobiological systems involved in the processing of cry sounds (Thijssen et al, 2018), processing of infant-related visual stimuli (Cohen-Bendahan et al, 2015) and the activation of protective parenting (Alyousefi-van Dijk et al, 2019) are affected by the AVP nasal administration in prospective fathers. However, it remains unknown what specific neurobiological effects are evoked by AVP administration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, no effect of AVP administration was observed in the neural response to infant stimuli in fathers of toddlers (Li, Chen, Mascaro, Haroon, & Rilling, 2017). It may thus be the case that AVP is particularly relevant during the transition to parenthood (Alyousefi-van Dijk et al, 2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Nevertheless, experimental manipulation of AVP levels through nasal administration revealed that AVP might promote orientation towards babies (Cohen-Bendahan, Beijers, van Doornen, & de Weerth, 2015) and is involved in the processing of auditory infant stimuli (Thijssen et al, 2018) in first-time fathers-to-be. Furthermore, it might be suggested that AVP is involved in distinguishing between own and unknown infant (Alyousefi-van Dijk et al, 2019). Interestingly, no effect of AVP administration was observed in the neural response to infant stimuli in fathers of toddlers (Li, Chen, Mascaro, Haroon, & Rilling, 2017).…”

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confidence: 97%

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Vasopressin and parental expressed emotion in the transition to fatherhood

Lotz

Rijlaarsdam

Witteman

et al. 2020

Attachment & Human Development

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In the last decades, parenting researchers increasingly focused on the role of fathers in child development. However, it is still largely unknown which factors contribute to fathers' beliefs about their child, which may be crucial in the transition to fatherhood. In the current randomized within-subject experiment, the effect of nasal administration of vasopressin (AVP) on both Five Minute Speech Sample-based (FMSS) expressed emotion and emotional content or prosody was explored in 25 prospectivefathers. Moreover, we explored how the transition to fatherhood affected these FMSSbased parameters, using prenatal and early postnatal measurements. Analyses revealed that FMSS-based expressed emotion and emotional content were correlated, but not affected by prenatal AVP administration. However,child's birth was associated with an increase in positivity and a decrease in emotional prosody, suggesting that the child's birth is more influential with regard to paternal thoughts and feelings than prenatal AVP administration.

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“…Research has further shown that oxytocin and vasopressin affect neural and behavior responses to infant signals [4, 9, 10, 12–14]. For example, a small functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study including fathers of 4- to 6-month-old infants reported a negative association between fathers’ endogenous vasopressin levels and activations in the inferior gyrus and insula when watching their own infant play, suggesting that lower vasopressin levels enhances social-cognitive and empathic responses, although replication of these findings in larger samples is needed [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fathers today: design of a randomized controlled trial examining the role of oxytocin and vasopressin in behavioral and neural responses to infant signals

et al. 2019

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BackgroundPrevious research has mostly focused on the hormonal, behavioral and neural correlates of maternal caregiving. We present a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subject design to examine the effects of intranasal administration of oxytocin and vasopressin on parenting behavior and the neural and behavioral responses to infant cry sounds and infant threat. In addition, we will test whether effects of oxytocin and vasopressin administration are moderated by fathers’ early childhood experiences.MethodsFifty-five first-time fathers of a child between two and seven months old will participate in three experimental sessions with intervening periods of one to two weeks. Participants self-administer oxytocin, vasopressin or a placebo. Infant-father interactions and protective parenting responses are observed during play. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is used to examine the neural processing of infant cry sounds and infant threat. A handgrip dynamometer is used to measure use of handgrip force when listening to infant cry sounds. Participants report on their childhood experiences of parental love-withdrawal and abuse and neglect.DiscussionThe results of this study will provide important insights into the hormonal, behavioral and neural correlates of fathers’ parenting behavior during the early phase of fatherhood.Trial registrationDutch Trial Register: NTR (ID: NL8124); Date registered: October 30, 2019.

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Vasopressin Differentially Affects Handgrip Force of Expectant Fathers in Reaction to Own and Unknown Infant Faces

Cited by 17 publications

References 92 publications

Birth of a Father: Fathering in the First 1,000 Days

Birth of a Father: Fathering in the First 1,000 Days

Vasopressin and parental expressed emotion in the transition to fatherhood

Fathers today: design of a randomized controlled trial examining the role of oxytocin and vasopressin in behavioral and neural responses to infant signals

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