FFOTD: A Hormone For Caring

Today's fun fact is a mixed bag. On one hand it's extremely interesting, on the other hand it's implications are a bit depressing. It has to do with the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin helps mammals to bond. Women produce a heightened level of oxytocin during childbirth and then pass it on to their infants during breast-feeding, which helps them to bond and attach.

Now research has found that people with higher levels of oxytocin tend to be more trusting! Alongside this finding is the research done at UW by Seth Pollak on Russian and Romanian infants adopted by Wisconsin families. These infants, adopted from orphanages where they lacked sufficient emotional care, were found to produce oxytocin differently -- even a number of years after their adoption. According to an article in the New York Times ("Exploring a Hormone for Caring", November 22, 2005), a typical child will have a rise in their oxytocin level after 30 minutes of interaction with their mothers. This rise in oxytocin did not occur in the previously neglected children. As the article states, "Dr. Pollak believes that oxytocin acts through the brain's reward system and gives infants a positive feeling about social interactions. The finding that the adopted children in the study apparently get less of an oxytocin reward could explain why some children from Eastern Europe, as they grow older, have difficulty forming social relationships."

One thing that we do know from child development and neurobiology is that children are very resilient and new neural connections can form and adjust depending on their environment. The article notes that it could be that these children's biological systems will eventually adjust. Regardless, the best intervention continues to be "adoption into loving families." In the future, these findings on oxytocin may help us discover more effective interventions for previously neglected children.

What this news on oxytocin also tells us is how important attachment and bonding are. I will hopefully talk more about attachment in another entry, because it's pretty much at the foundation of child development. However, for now I just want to point out that besides making people more trusting, higher oxytocin levels also make humans more resistant to stress and social phobias. This means that children with secure attachment figures are going to be better equipped to engage in trusting, healthy relationships. They are also going to be better able to deal with the world and manage stress and anxiety. Here is scientific proof that children need to be loved and cared for.