In modern, western societies like ours, being raised without a father is associated with a host of negative developmental outcomes for children, including substance abuse, aggression and conduct disorder, dropping out of school and risky sexual behavior in adolescence. When fathers are present, however, they are not always helpful, and a small minority are even abusive. On the other hand, children raised by sensitive, nurturing fathers have better cognitive, behavioral, social and psychological outcomes. The proposed project will investigate the neurobiology underlying sensitive fathering and determine whether a pharmacological intervention can enhance it.
The first aim i s to investigate the relationship between fathers'neural responses to infant picture and cry stimuli and actual behavior of fathers in everyday life as assessed by the Electronic Activated Recorder (EAR), a portable digital audio recorder that periodically records brief snippets of ambient sounds and unobtrusively samples acoustic observations of participants'momentary social environments and interactions within the natural flow of their lives.
This aim will use previously collected EAR data from 60 fathers of 1-3 year old children to code several measures of paternal behavior. Measures of paternal behavior will then be correlated with previously collected neuroimaging data from the same fathers.
Aim 2 will determine if intranasal OT or AVP alter paternal neural responses to own child picture and cry stimuli. Thirty fathers with 1- 3 year old children will be imaged with fMRI as they view pictures of their own and unknown children and as they listen to unknown infant cry stimuli. Fathers will be scanned on two separate occasions;once under the influence of OT (n=15) or AVP (n=15), and once under the influence of a placebo. Order of administration will be counterbalanced across subjects. Ultimately, it is hoped that interventions like these will improve children's mental and physical health by virtue of their effects on the brain physiology and behavior of at-risk fathers (e.g., abusive fathers, fathers with post-partum depression).

Public Health Relevance

Children raised by sensitive, nurturing fathers have better cognitive, behavioral, social and psychological outcomes. The proposed project will investigate the neurobiology underlying sensitive fathering and determine whether pharmacological interventions can enhance it. Ultimately, it is hoped that interventions like these will improve children's mental and physical health by virtue of their effects on the brain physiology and behavior of at-risk fathers (e.g., abusive fathers, fathers with post-partum depression).

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
1R21HD078778-01
Application #
8622249
Study Section
Biobehavioral Regulation, Learning and Ethology Study Section (BRLE)
Program Officer
Freund, Lisa S
Project Start
2014-04-15
Project End
2016-03-31
Budget Start
2014-04-15
Budget End
2015-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Emory University
Department
Social Sciences
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30322
Mascaro, Jennifer S; Rentscher, Kelly E; Hackett, Patrick D et al. (2018) Preliminary evidence that androgen signaling is correlated with men's everyday language. Am J Hum Biol 30:e23136
Li, Ting; Chen, Xu; Mascaro, Jennifer et al. (2017) Intranasal oxytocin, but not vasopressin, augments neural responses to toddlers in human fathers. Horm Behav 93:193-202
Mehl, Matthias R (2017) The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR): A Method for the Naturalistic Observation of Daily Social Behavior. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 26:184-190
Mascaro, Jennifer S; Rentscher, Kelly E; Hackett, Patrick D et al. (2017) Child gender influences paternal behavior, language, and brain function. Behav Neurosci 131:262-73
Alisic, Eva; Barrett, Anna; Bowles, Peter et al. (2016) Topical Review: Families Coping With Child Trauma: A Naturalistic Observation Methodology. J Pediatr Psychol 41:117-27