het gaat niet om een aandoening maar om hormonale invloed op zorg voor kinderen caring fatherhood
Conditions
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Eligibility
Age
18 Years to 99 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: The participants will be 60 expectant nulliparous fathers and 30 non-expectant childless men as controls; physically and mentally healthy men; in a relationship and living together with this partner
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Unhealthy men, men with previous children or stepchildren, men expecting twins, single men.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The main interest of the study is the relationship between hormone levels and caregiving attitudes, interest, and behavior. Besides looking at the relationships between basal levels of 5 different hormones (i.e. oxytocin, vasopressin, testosterone, prolactin, and cortisol) and the caregiving factors, we will also look at how altering the levels of two of the hormones affects these relationships. Therefore, we plan to conduct an experiment that will be carried out three times for each participant. Each session will be used to test the effects of the elevation of one of these hormones or the placebo. The hormones that are tested are oxytocin, and vasopressin. These hormones are administered through an intranasal spray, and past research has shown that hormonal alterations of this kind can affect behavior. In the experiment we measure indicators of the subjects* caregiving interest in a virtual world. We expect that the participants treated with hormonal spray will show more caregiving interest as compared to the placebo condition. We expect the fathers-to-be to primed for caregiving and therefore to show a larger response towards the sprays as compared to the childless controls. Specific hypotheses concerning the hormone levels are: We hypothesize that oxytocin will be positively related to caregiving interest and caregiving behavior. We hypothesize that prolactin will be positively related to caregiving interest and caregiving behavior. We hypothesize that cortisol will be negatively related to oxytocin, and to caregiving interest and caregiving behavior. We hypothesize that testosterone will be negatively related to caregiving interest and caregiving behavior. We hypothesize that vasopressin has a greater role than oxytocin in actual paternal caregiving. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| n.a. | — |
Countries
Netherlands
Outcome results
None listed