Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-16-2016
Abstract
In many non-human species, including primates, gestational reproductive hormones play an essential role in the onset of maternal motivation and behaviors. We investigated the associations between prepartum estradiol and progesterone and maternal behavior at 1-year postpartum in 177 women. Blood was obtained at five gestational time points and an index of quality of maternal care was determined using a well-validated mother-child interaction protocol. Women who exhibited higher quality maternal care at 1-year postpartum were characterized by unique gestational profiles of estradiol, progesterone and the estrogen to progesterone ratio; specifically by slower accelerations and levels of these hormone trajectories beginning in midgestation. Further, it appeared that both fetal sex and parity moderated these findings, with first time mothers and mothers of females showing stronger associations. In sum, these data document persisting associations between prepartum hormone profiles and human maternal behavior. More broadly, these findings add to the growing literature highlighting the perinatal period as one of critical neurodevelopment in the lifespan of the human female.
Recommended Citation
Glynn, Laura M., Davis, Elysia Poggi, Sandman, Curt A., Goldberg, Wendy A., Gestational hormone profiles predict human maternal behavior at 1-year postpartum, Hormones and Behavior (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.07.002
Copyright
Elsevier
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists Commons, Maternal and Child Health Commons, Obstetrics and Gynecology Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons
Comments
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Hormones and Behavior. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version will be subsequently published in Hormones and Behavio in 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.07.002
The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.