Aron Weller

Attachment styles, coping strategies, and posttraumatic psychological distress : the impact of the Gulf War in Israel

This study examines the association between adult attachment style and the way people reacted to the Iraqi missile attack on Israel during the Gulf War. One hundred forty Israeli students were interviewed 2 weeks after the war and classified according to their attachment style (secure, avoidant, or ambivalent) and residence area (dangerous vs. less dangerous). Ambivalent people reported more distress than secure people. Avoidant persons reported higher levels of somatization, hostility, and trauma-related avoidance than secure persons. These results characterized Ss living in dangerous areas. In addition, secure people used relatively more support-seeking strategies in coping with the trauma, ambivalent people used more emotion-focused strategies, and avoidant people used more distancing strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models.

Evidence for a Neuroendocrinological Foundation of Human Affiliation Plasma Oxytocin Levels Across Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period Predict Mother-Infant Bonding

Although research on the neurobiological foundation of social affiliation has implicated the neuropeptide oxytocin in processes of maternal bonding in mammals, there is little evidence to support such links in humans. Plasma oxytocin and cortisol of 62 pregnant women were sampled during the first trimester, last trimester, and first postpartum month. Oxytocin was assayed using enzyme immunoassay, and free cortisol was calculated. After the infants were born, their interactions with their mothers were observed, and the mothers were interviewed regarding their infant-related thoughts and behaviors. Oxytocin was stable across time, and oxytocin levels at early pregnancy and the postpartum period were related to a clearly defined set of maternal bonding behaviors, including gaze, vocalizations, positive affect, and affectionate touch; to attachment-related thoughts; and to frequent checking of the infant. Across pregnancy and the postpartum period, oxytocin may play a role in the emergence of behaviors and mental representations typical of bonding in the human mother.

Oxytocin during pregnancy and early postpartum: Individual patterns and maternal–fetal attachment

Oxytocin (OT), a nanopeptide hormone, plays a role in the emergence of maternal behavior, yet few studies examined OT in humans across pregnancy and the postpartum. We followed healthy women at three points: first trimester of pregnancy, third trimester, and first postpartum month. Plasma OT levels showed high individual stability. A third of the sample showed consistent OT levels, whereas others showed increasing or decreasing trends or peak in late pregnancy. The increase in OT from early to late pregnancy correlated with higher maternal-fetal bonding. These data may help set standards for OT levels and underscore links with maternal-infant attachment.

Testing a family intervention hypothesis: The contribution of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo care) to family interaction, proximity, and touch.

The provision of maternal-infant body contact during a period of maternal separation was examined for its effects on parent-infant and triadic interactions. Participants were 146 three-month-old preterm infants and their parents, half of whom received skin-to-skin contact, or kangaroo care (KC), in the neonatal nursery. Global relational style and micro-patterns of proximity and touch were coded. Following KC, mothers and fathers were more sensitive and less intrusive, infants showed less negative affect, and family style was more cohesive. Among KC families, maternal and paternal affectionate touch of infant and spouse was more frequent, spouses remained in closer proximity, and infant proximity position was conducive to mutual gaze and touch during triadic play. The role of touch as a constituent of the co-regulatory parent-infant and triadic systems and the effects of maternal contact on mothering, co-parenting, and family processes are discussed.

Oxytocin and cortisol in romantically unattached young adults: associations with bonding and psychological distress.

Despite extensive research on the involvement of oxytocin (OT) in mammalian bonding, less is known about its role in human social affiliation across the life cycle. Forty-five romantically unattached young adults participated. Plasma oxytocin and salivary cortisol were assessed using enzyme immuno-assay, and self-report measures of bonding, attachment, anxiety, and depression were collected. Oxytocin was associated with bonding to own parents and inversely related to psychological distress, particularly depressive symptoms. Cortisol was related to attachment anxiety. Regression analysis indicated that the adults representations of bonding to parents predicted OT levels above and beyond cortisol, psychological distress, and attachment. Findings are consistent with antistress models of oxytocin and suggest that oxytocin may play a role in bonding-related cognitions across the life span.

Human menstrual synchrony: a critical assessment/.

This review on menstrual synchrony in human females has four purposes: (a) to determine whether or not the phenomenon exists, and whether it differs in the various groups studied: roommates in dormitories, roommates in private residences, close friends, work groups, mothers-daughters; (b) to assess the magnitude of its effect, i.e., to what extent does the single factor of living together affect menstrual synchrony?; (c) to examine the effects of menstrual-related factors, social interaction factors, and personality on menstrual synchrony; (d) to assess whether the findings support a pheromonal or common environmental explanation of menstrual synchrony. Several methodological issues are also discussed.

Acute and repeated gestational stress affect offspring learning and activity in rats

This study assessed possible long-lasting effects of mild, indirect prenatal stress upon offspring. Dams were restrained for 30 minutes either once or four times during the third trimester of gestation. Their male offspring were challenged in adulthood with a series of appetitive operant learning tasks. Both acute and repeated prenatal maternal restraint retarded the performance of the offspring in a selective manner: deficits appeared during the reversal stage of an operant discrimination task, with no effect on acquisition, discrimination or extinction. Repeated, but not acute, maternal stress was also associated with offspring hyperactivity. This highlights the differential impact of varying the stress schedule. Furthermore, use of multiple measures of learning uncovered a long-lasting, selective effect of relatively mild, indirect prenatal manipulation.

How sleep is related to fatigue.

OBJECTIVES It is evident that sleep patterns have direct effects on fatigue. However, the multidimensionality of fatigue may imply that complex patterns of relationships exist between fatigue and sleep characteristics. We aimed to study the correlations between fatigue and quantitative and qualitative sleep measurements, while taking into consideration depression and somatization which are known to affect both sleep and fatigue. We predicted that sleep quality, unattained by the effects of somatization and depression, would affect perceived fatigue more than the quantitative characteristics of sleep. DESIGN Employing a cross-sectional design, hypotheses were addressed using multiple hierarchical regression analyses according to established methods. METHODS Data were gathered from a targeted, randomly selected adult sample (N = 278) by means of subjective sleep reports, a mental health inventory, somatization inventory, several fatigue questionnaires and a demographic questionnaire. RESULTS Fatigue was significantly predicted by depression scores, somatization levels and subjective sleep quality, but not quantitative sleep characteristics such as sleep latency, nocturnal awakenings and early morning arousals. Depression levels were positively and significantly related to all aspects of fatigue except physical fatigue and fatigue that responds to rest and sleep. Physical fatigue was correlated with somatization, but not depression. CONCLUSIONS The data further our understanding of the multifaceted nature of human fatigue and underline the greater importance of perceived sleep quality, compared to other sleep characteristics, in predicting fatigue.

Massage therapy by mothers enhances the adjustment of circadian rhythms to the nocturnal period in full-term infants.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of massage therapy on phase adjustment of rest-activity and melatonin secretion rhythms to the nocturnal period in full-term infants. Rest-activity cycles of infants (measurement 1, n = 16) were measured by actigraphy before and after 14 days of massage therapy (starting at age 10 [±4] d) and subsequently at 6 and 8 weeks of age. 6-Sulphatoxymelatonin excretion was assessed in urine samples at 6, 8, and 12 weeks of age (measurement 2, n = 21). At 8 weeks the controls revealed one peak of activity at approximately 12 midnight (11 p.m.–3 a.m.) and another one at approximately 12 noon (11 a.m.–3 p.m.), whereas in the treated group, a major peak was early in the morning (3 a.m.–7 a.m.) and a secondary peak in the late afternoon (3 p.m.–7 p.m.). At 12 weeks, nocturnal 6-sulphatoxymelatonin excretions were significantly higher in the treated infants (1346.38 ± 209.40 μg/night vs 823.25 ± 121.25 μg/night, respectively;p < .05). It is concluded that massage therapy by mothers in the perinatal period serves as a strong time cue, enhancing coordination of the developing circadian system with environmental cues.

Separation of opioid from nonopioid mediation of affect in neonatal rats: nonopioid mechanisms mediate maternal contact influences.

A causal distinction is established in infant Norway rats between opioid- and nonopioid-mediated determinants of behavior. Contact influences are shown to be mediated by nonopioid pathways, whereas gustatory influences are shown to be opioid mediated. Specifically, naltrexone (0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg) did not at all diminish quieting exerted by contact with an anesthetized dam but completely reversed the quieting effects of morphine in isolated rats. Naloxone (5 mg/kg) did not affect the latencies with which nondeprived or 8-hr deprived rats 9, 12, 15, and 18 days of age attached to the nipples of anesthetized dams, nor did naloxone (5 and 10 mg/kg) cause any systematic change in nipple attachment in 10- and 18-day-old rats that had been deprived of their dam for either 0, 8, or 24 hr. In a 3rd experiment, naloxone (5 mg/kg) did not significantly reduce milk intake by 9-, 12-, 15-, or 18-day-old rats from the nipple when milk letdown was induced by oxytocin. Moreover, naloxone (5 and 10 mg/kg) did not reduce milk intake in Day-10 rats that, while suckling, received milk via a cannula placed in the posterior portion of the tongue at the level of the intermolar eminence or in rats that obtained milk directly from their awake mother. In contrast, milk intake was significantly reduced by naltrexone (0.25-1.0 mg/kg) in Day-10 rats that obtained milk (a) by licking it off a saturated substrate or (b) through an indwelling cannula located in the anterior portion of the lower jaw. (Milk delivered at this placement is thought to engage feeding systems by its taste and texture.) In a final set of experiments in Day-10 rats, intake of milk delivered via anterior jaw cannulae was reduced by naloxone (5 and 10 mg/kg) in rats that were either isolated, in contact with an anesthetized dam, or attached to her nipples. On the basis of resistance to naloxone and naltrexone administration, these experiments demonstrate that behavioral influences of the tactile (and possibly olfactory) qualities of the mother are not mediated by opioid systems. Implications for understanding the means through which mothers can influence their young and the infantile mediators of these maternal influences are discussed.