THE ROLE OF MATERNAL OXYTOCIN RECEPTOR GENE POLYMORPHISM IN MATERNAL INTERACTIVE BEHAVIOR AND ITS CONSEQUENT IMPACT ON CHILDRENS NEUROENDOCRINE AND SOCIO-EMOTIONAL FUNCTIONING.

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Child’s oxytocin response to mother-child interaction: the contribution of child genetics and maternal behavior

Publication . Baião, Rita; Fearon, Pasco; Belsky, Jay; Baptista, Joana; Carneiro, Alexandra; Pinto, Raquel; Nogueira, Marlene; Oliveira, César; Soares, Isabel; Mesquita, Ana R.

The oxytocinergic system is a primary biological system involved in regulating a child’s needs for bonding and for protection from threats. It is responsive to social experiences in close relationships, though evidence across studies is not entirely consistent. Guided by previous literature, we investigated individual and environmental factors predicting and presumably affecting children’s oxytocin (OT) response during mother-child interaction. by focusing on children’s OXTR genotype, and maternal behavior, respectively. This was achieved by assessing salivary OT levels of 88 Portuguese preschoolers prior to and following a mother-child interaction task, and by genotyping children’s OXTR SNP rs53576. Maternal interactive behavior was assessed using Ainsworth scales. Results indicated that child genotype and mother’s sensitive responsiveness interacted in predicting change in child OT concentrations from before to after the interaction. Specifically, Genotypic differences emerged under conditions of low maternal sensitive responsiveness: OT levels increased over time for children with the GG genotype when maternal sensitive responsiveness was low, but no such genotypic differences were evident when mothers were highly sensitive responsive. Findings provide preliminary support for the notion that increased understanding of children’s OT and close relationships requires consideration of both individual and environmental factors.

2019Journal article

Open access

Assessing preschoolers interactive behaviour: a validation study of the “Coding System for Mother–Child Interaction”

Publication . Baiao, Rita; Baptista, Joana; Carneiro, A.; Pinto, R.; Toscano, C.; Fearon, P.; Soares, Isabel; Mesquita, A.R.

Background: The preschool years are a period of great developmental achievements, which impact critically on a child's interactive skills. Having valid and reliable measures to assess interactive behaviour at this stage is therefore crucial. The aim of this study was to describe the adaptation and validation of the child coding of the Coding System for Mother–Child Interactions and discuss its applications and implications in future research and practice. Methods: Two hundred twenty Portuguese preschoolers and their mothers were videotaped during a structured task. Child and mother interactive behaviours were coded based on the task. Maternal reports on the child's temperament and emotional and behaviour problems were also collected, along with family psychosocial information. Results: Interrater agreement was confirmed. The use of child Cooperation, Enthusiasm, and Negativity as subscales was supported by their correlations across tasks. Moreover, these subscales were correlated with each other, which supports the use of a global child interactive behaviour score. Convergent validity with a measure of emotional and behavioural problems (Child Behaviour Checklist 1 ½–5) was established, as well as divergent validity with a measure of temperament (Children's Behaviour Questionnaire–Short Form). Regarding associations with family variables, child interactive behaviour was only associated with maternal behaviour. Conclusions: Findings suggest that this coding system is a valid and reliable measure for assessing child interactive behaviour in preschool age children. It therefore represents an important alternative to this area of research and practice, with reduced costs and with more flexible training requirements. Attention should be given in future research to expanding this work to clinical populations and different age groups.

2018Journal article

Open access