Stress, Anxiety, and Paternal Behavior in Fathers

描述（由申请人提供）：在许多文化中，人类父亲提供了大量的儿童保育，并在孩子的认知、情感和心理社会发展中发挥重要作用。与此同时，父亲和父亲代理人犯下了不成比例的大量严重儿童身体虐待和儿童忽视事件，往往与高度压力或与压力有关的精神病理有关。令人惊讶的是，导致父亲虐待儿童的因素很少受到关注；然而，与失业、经济困难和养育子女困难等因素相关的压力被认为发挥了作用。在哺乳动物母亲中，包括女性，与怀孕、分娩和哺乳相关的激素和神经变化导致应激反应、焦虑和恐惧的减少，这些变化被认为有助于母性行为的发生，并缓冲母性护理受到压力或焦虑的抑制。目前尚不清楚双亲物种的父亲是否会在压力反应和情绪方面经历类似的变化。然而，在这些物种中，父系抚育的开始与几种激素和神经肽系统的活性改变有关，这些系统与应激反应和情绪的调节有关。因此，我们认为，这些神经内分泌变化可能有助于减少新父亲的焦虑、恐惧和压力反应，从而促进父亲行为的发生和维持，并降低在压力或焦虑条件下父亲关怀被抑制的可能性。在本研究中，我们的目的是确定压力对父权照顾的影响，以及父权对双亲啮齿动物加利福尼亚鼠的压力反应的影响。具体来说，我们建议确定(1)父亲的关爱是否受到急性和/或慢性压力的抑制，以及(2)父亲身份是否会改变对急性和慢性压力源的行为、激素和神经反应。这些研究将为哺乳动物的父权照顾提供独特的见解，并最终可能对防止父亲虐待和忽视人类儿童产生影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human fathers in many cultures provide a significant amount of child care and play important roles in the cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial development of their children. At the same time, fathers and father surrogates perpetrate a disproportionately large number of instances of severe physical child abuse and child neglect, often in association with high levels of stress or stress-related psychopathology. The factors contributing to child maltreatment by fathers have received surprisingly little attention; however, stress, associated with such factors as unemployment, financial hardship, and parenting difficulties, is thought to play a role. In mammalian mothers, including women, hormonal and neural changes associated with pregnancy, parturition, and lactation lead to reductions in stress-responsiveness, anxiety, and fearfulness, changes that are thought to facilitate the onset of maternal behavior and to buffer maternal care from inhibition by stress or anxiety. It is unknown whether fathers in biparental species undergo similar changes in stress-responsiveness and emotionality. The onset of paternal care in these species, however, is associated with altered activity of several hormone and neuropeptide systems that have been implicated in the regulation of the stress response and emotionality. We suggest, therefore, that these neuroendocrine changes may function to reduce anxiety, fearfulness, and stress-responsiveness in new fathers, thereby facilitating the onset and maintenance of paternal behavior and reducing the likelihood that paternal care will be inhibited under stressful or anxiogenic conditions. In the proposed research, we aim to identify both the effects of stress on paternal care and the effects of fatherhood on stress-responsiveness in a biparental rodent, the California mouse. Specifically, we propose to determine (1) whether paternal care is inhibited by acute and/or chronic stress, and (2) whether fatherhood alters behavioral, hormonal, and neural responses to acute and chronic stressors. These studies will provide unique insights into mammalian paternal care and ultimately may have implications for preventing abuse and neglect of human children by fathers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Many human fathers make important contributions to the care and development of their children; however, fathers and father surrogates are also responsible for a disproportionately large number of child physical abuse and neglect incidents, often under stressful or anxiogenic conditions. The proposed research will use a biparental rodent, the California mouse, as a model system to investigate how stress affects paternal care and, conversely, whether fatherhood influences males' behavioral, hormonal, and neural responses to stress. This research will substantially advance our understanding of the biology of paternal behavior in humans and other mammals, and may ultimately have implications for the prevention of child maltreatment by fathers.