Stress, Anxiety, and Paternal Behavior in Fathers

描述(由申请人提供)：在许多文化中，人类父亲提供大量的儿童护理，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，父亲和父亲代孕母亲犯下了大量严重虐待儿童和忽视儿童的严重身体虐待和忽视儿童的事件，往往与高水平的压力或与压力有关的精神病态有关。令人惊讶的是，导致父亲虐待儿童的因素几乎没有受到关注；然而，与失业、经济困难和育儿困难等因素相关的压力被认为起到了作用。在包括女性在内的哺乳动物母亲中，与怀孕、分娩和哺乳相关的激素和神经变化会导致压力反应、焦虑和恐惧的减少，这些变化被认为有助于母亲行为的开始，并缓冲母亲护理免受压力或焦虑的抑制。目前尚不清楚双亲物种的父亲是否在压力反应和情绪性方面经历了类似的变化。然而，在这些物种中，父性关怀的开始与几种激素和神经肽系统的活性变化有关，这些激素和神经肽系统与压力反应和情绪性的调节有关。因此，我们认为，这些神经内分泌变化可能会减少新父亲的焦虑、恐惧和压力反应，从而促进父亲行为的发生和维持，并降低父亲照顾在压力或引发焦虑的条件下受到抑制的可能性。在这项拟议的研究中，我们的目标是确定压力对父亲照顾的影响，以及父亲对双亲啮齿动物加州小鼠压力反应的影响。具体地说，我们建议确定(1)父亲的照顾是否受到急性和/或慢性压力的抑制，以及(2)父亲是否改变了对急性和慢性应激源的行为、激素和神经反应。这些研究将为哺乳动物的父亲照料提供独特的见解，并最终可能对防止父亲虐待和忽视人类儿童产生影响。 与公共卫生相关：许多人类父亲对子女的照料和发展作出了重要贡献；然而，父亲和父亲代孕母亲也要对儿童身体虐待和忽视事件承担不成比例的大量责任，这些事件往往是在有压力或导致焦虑的情况下发生的。这项拟议的研究将使用双亲啮齿动物加州老鼠作为模型系统，研究压力如何影响父亲的照顾，反过来，父亲是否会影响男性对压力的行为、荷尔蒙和神经反应。这项研究将极大地促进我们对人类和其他哺乳动物父亲行为生物学的理解，并最终可能对防止父亲虐待儿童产生影响。

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.