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Mothers' Attachment is Linked to their Children's Anti-Inflammatory Gene Expression via Maternal Warmth.

ABSTRACT: Research has demonstrated links between adult romantic attachment and one's own physical health; little is known about links between adult attachment orientations and offspring health. Prior work has shown that parents' greater attachment anxiety and avoidance predicts less warmth toward their children. Extensive work has also shown that lower maternal warmth has negative downstream effects on offspring health. We tested the novel hypothesis that mothers' dispositional romantic attachment would be linked-via maternal warmth-to their children's expression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1, higher expression of which is associated with healthier stress-regulation and inflammatory response. In a sample of 132 youth with asthma, we found that mothers' attachment anxiety and avoidance were both negatively associated with children's expression of NR3C1, explained by lower youth-rated maternal warmth. Effects held after adjusting for demographic and psychosocial covariates. Implications for parents' attachment influencing the health of offspring are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Stanton SCE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6219467 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mothers' Attachment is Linked to their Children's Anti-Inflammatory Gene Expression via Maternal Warmth.

Stanton Sarah C E SCE Zilioli Samuele S Briskin Julia L JL Imami Ledina L Tobin Erin T ET Wildman Derek E DE Mair-Meijers Henriette H Luca Francesca F Kane Heidi S HS Slatcher Richard B RB

Social psychological and personality science 20170504 7

Research has demonstrated links between adult romantic attachment and one's own physical health; little is known about links between adult attachment orientations and offspring health. Prior work has shown that parents' greater attachment anxiety and avoidance predicts less warmth toward their children. Extensive work has also shown that lower maternal warmth has negative downstream effects on offspring health. We tested the novel hypothesis that mothers' dispositional romantic attachment would ...[more]

PMID: 30410663

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Project description:BackgroundExposure to community violence is common worldwide and is associated with emotional and behavioural problems in children. Little is known about sources of resilience. Building on our previous work on the contribution of callous-unemotional (CU) traits to child aggression in Colombia, we examined whether positive parenting is protective for children whose families are exposed to community violence.MethodsFamilies were recruited from three demographically contrasting regions of Colombia. The sample comprised 235 children aged 3.5 years and their mothers, of whom 220 (93%) were followed up at age 5.0 years. Positive parenting was assessed as the average of maternal warmth and reciprocity, and as praise, and negative parenting as the average of negative affect and conflict seen in video recordings of standardized procedures. CU traits and oppositional defiant disorder were assessed by maternal report at ages 3.5 and 5.0 years, and mothers reported exposure to community violence over the 18 months between assessments. A range of potential confounds was included in adjusted analyses.ResultsIn the families who were exposed to community violence, but not in the unexposed, maternal warmth and reciprocity were associated prospectively with lower CU traits (interaction, p = .007). In the exposed group maternal warmth and reciprocity explained 10% of the variance (β = -.34, p = .001). Maternal praise was not associated with CU traits. Maternal negative parenting predicted higher CU traits as the main effect but not in interaction with community violence exposure.ConclusionsMaternal warmth and reciprocity with young children may promote resilience in the face of community violence. Programmes to enhance these protective processes may be needed especially where prospects for reducing community violence are limited. The centrality of parents for these children highlights the plight of those exposed to community violence, and also either separated from parents or orphaned.

Dataset Information

Mothers' Attachment is Linked to their Children's Anti-Inflammatory Gene Expression via Maternal Warmth.

Publications

Mothers' Attachment is Linked to their Children's Anti-Inflammatory Gene Expression via Maternal Warmth.

Similar Datasets

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