Salivary αAmylase Reactivity to Infant Crying in

Authors: Sophie Reijman Lenneke R A Alink Laura H C G Compierde Block Claudia D Werner Athanasios Maras Corine Rijnberk Marinus H van IJzendoorn Marian J BakermansKranenburg

Publish Date: 2014/09/26

Volume: 46, Issue: 4, Pages: 589-599

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Abstract

Deviant physiological reactivity to infant stimuli has been suggested to underlie maladaptive parenting behavior Our study involved 44 maltreating and 42 nonmaltreating mothers During a standardized cry paradigm mothers listened to nine cry sounds of varying pitches Saliva was collected at baseline after each cry sound and after a recovery episode Salivary αamylase sAA as a marker of autonomic nervous system ANS activity was assayed from saliva samples Maltreating mothers showed lower overall sAA levels and an attenuated reactivity pattern to infant crying as compared to nonmaltreating mothers No effect of type of maltreatment neglect only vs neglect and abuse was found Furthermore positive correlations between sAA and heart rate HR for nonmaltreating mothers differed significantly from nonsignificant correlations between sAA and HR for maltreating mothers This suggests anomalous asynchrony between different aspects of the ANS in maltreating mothers Results indicate a lack of functional autonomic reactivity as a contributing risk factor to child maltreatmentThe authors are grateful to Jill Baars Anke de Glopper Renée Naalden Angel Roseval Renée Smulders Eva van Wijck and Marcella van Zuijdam for their assistance during various phases of this project The study was supported by Yulius mental health clinic and by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research MHvIJ NWO SPINOZA prize MJBK VICI grant

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