Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-27T00:24:11.717Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Brain-based sex differences in parenting propagate emotion expression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2009

James E. Swain
Affiliation:
Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520. james.swain@yale.eduhttp://myprofile.cos.com/jameseswain

Abstract

Parent-infant emotional expressions vary according to parent and infant gender. Such parent-infant interactions critically affect infant development. Neuroimaging research is exploring emotion-related brain function that varies according to gender, and regulates parenting thoughts and behaviors in the early postpartum. Through specific brain functions, parenting serves to program the infant brain for the next generation of sex-specific emotional expression.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boyce, W. T., Essex, M. J., Alkon, A., Goldsmith, H. H., Kraemer, H. C. & Kupfer, D. J. (2006) Early father involvement moderates biobehavioral susceptibility to mental health problems in middle childhood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 45(12):1510–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bridges, R. S. (2008) Neurobiology of the parental brain. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cabrera, N. J., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Bradley, R. H., Hofferth, S. & Lamb, M. E. (2000) Fatherhood in the twenty-first century. Child Development 71(1):127–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. R. (2008) Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications, 2nd edition.Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cosgrove, K. P., Mazure, C. M. & Staley, J. K. (2007) Evolving knowledge of sex differences in brain structure, function, and chemistry. Biological Psychiatry 62(8):847–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickson, K. L., Walker, H. & Fogel, A. (1997) The relationship between smile type and play type during parent-infant play. Developmental Psychology 33(6):925–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donaldson, Z. R. & Young, L. J. (2008) Oxytocin, vasopressin, and the neurogenetics of sociality. Science 322(5903):900904.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, R. (2003) Infant-mother and infant-father synchrony: The coregulation of positive arousal. Infant Mental Health Journal 24(1):123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, R. (2007) Parent-infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 48(3–4):329–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, R., Greenbaum, C. W. & Yirmiya, N. (1999) Mother-infant affect synchrony as an antecedent of the emergence of self-control. Developmental Psychology 35(1):223–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grossmann, K., Grossmann, K. E., Fremmer-Bombik, E., Kindler, H., Scheuerer-English, H. & Zimmerman, P. (2002) The uniqueness of the child-father attachment relationship: Fathers' sensitive and challenging play as a pivotal variable in a 16-year longitudinal study. Social Development 11(3):307–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamann, S., Herman, R. A., Nolan, C. L. & Wallen, K. (2004) Men and women differ in amygdala response to visual sexual stimuli. Nature Neuroscience 7(4):411–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, P., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R., Leckman, J. F. & Swain, J. E.(submitted)Primary parental preoccupation and the transition from adulthood to parenthood. Infant Mental Health Journal.Google Scholar
Korner, A. F. (1969) Neonatal startles, smiles, erections, and reflex sucks as related to state, sex, and individuality. Child Development 40(4):1039–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamb, M. E. (1977) A re-examination of the infant social world. Human Development 20(2):6585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leckman, J. F., Feldman, R., Swain, J. E., Eicher, V., Thompson, N. & Mayes, L. C. (2004) Primary parental preoccupation: Circuits, genes, and the crucial role of the environment. Journal of Neural Transmission 111(7):753–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R., Evans, D. W., King, R. A. & Cohen, D. J. (1999) Early parental preoccupations and behaviors and their possible relationship to the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica: Supplementum 396:126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leppanen, J. M. & Nelson, C. A. (2009) Tuning the developing brain to social signals of emotions. Nature Reviews: Neuroscience 10(1):3747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lester, B. M., Hoffman, J. & Brazelton, T. B. (1985) The rhythmic structure of mother-infant interaction in term and preterm infants. Child Development 56(1):1527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moran, G., Forbes, L., Evans, E., Tarabulsy, G. M. & Madigan, S. (2008) Both maternal sensitivity and atypical maternal behavior independently predict attachment security and disorganization in adolescent mother-infant relationships. Infant Behavior and Development 31(2):321–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osofsky, J. D. (1976) Neonatal characteristics and mother-infant interaction in two observational situations. Child Development 47(4):1138–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Proverbio, A. M., Adorni, R., Zani, A. & Trestianu, L. (2009) Sex differences in the brain response to affective scenes with or without humans. Neuropsychologia. 47(12):2374–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sander, K., Frome, Y. & Scheich, H. (2007) FMRI activations of amygdala, cingulate cortex, and auditory cortex by infant laughing and crying. Human Brain Mapping 28(10):1007–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schirmer, A., Zysset, S., Kotz, S. A. & Yves von Cramon, D. (2004) Gender differences in the activation of inferior frontal cortex during emotional speech perception. NeuroImage 21(3):1114–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulte-Rüther, M., Markowitsch, H. J., Fink, G. R. & Piefke, M. (2008) Gender differences in brain networks supporting empathy. NeuroImage 42(1):393403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, D. N. (1985) The interpersonal world of the infant: A view from psychoanalysis and developmental psychology. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R., Constable, R. T. & Schultz, R. T. (2004) Neural substrates and psychology of human parent-infant attachment in the postpartum. Biological Psychiatry (Suppl.) 55(8):153S.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R. & Schultz, R. T. (2005) Early human parent-infant bond development: fMRI, thoughts and behaviors. Biological Psychiatry (Suppl.) 57(8):112S.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R. & Schultz, R. T. (2006) Own baby pictures induce parental brain activations according to psychology, experience and postpartum timing. Biological Psychiatry (Suppl.) 59(8):126S.Google Scholar
Swain, J. E. & Lorberbaum, J. P. (2008) Imaging the human parental brain. In: Neurobiology of the parental brain, ed. Bridges, R., pp. 83100. Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swain, J. E., Lorberbaum, J. P., Kose, S. & Strathearn, L. (2007) Brain basis of early parent-infant interactions: Psychology, physiology, and in vivo functional neuroimaging studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 48(3–4):262–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tronick, E. Z. (1989) Emotions and emotional communication in infants. American Psychologist 44:112–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wager, T. D. & Ochsner, K. N. (2005) Sex differences in the emotional brain. NeuroReport 16(2):8587.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinberg, M. K., Tronick, E. Z., Cohn, J. F. & Olson, K. L. (1999) Gender differences in emotional expressivity and self-regulation during early infancy. Developmental Psychology 35(1):175–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolff, P. H. (1967) The role of biological rhythms in early psychological development. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 31(4):197218.Google ScholarPubMed
Yogman, M. W. (1981) Games fathers and mothers play with their infants. Infant Mental Health Journal 2:241–48.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle Scholar