Exploring the role of OXTR gene methylation in attachment development: A longitudinal study

he current study explored longitudinally whether oxytocin receptor gene methyla-tion (OXTRm) changes moderated the association between parental sensitivity changesand children’s attachment changes over three waves. Six hundred six Flemish children(10–12 years, 42.8%–44.8% boys) completed attachment measures and provided sali-vary OXTRm data on seven CpG sites. Their parents reported their sensitive parenting.Results suggest that OXTRm changes hardly link to attachment (in)security changesafter the age of 10. Some support was found for interaction effects between parentalsensitivity changes and OXTRm changes on attachment changes over time. Effects sug-gest that for children with increased OXTRm in the promotor region and decreasedmethylation in the inhibitor region over time, increased parental sensitivity was asso-ciated with increased secure attachment and decreased insecure attachment overtime.

Keywords

Attachment Hormones Parental care

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9797

Citation

Cuyvers, B., Houbrechts, M., Bosmans, G., Ein-Dor, T., Freson, K., Goossens, L., Bijttebier, P., Van Den Noortgate, W., van Leeuwen, K., Claes, S., Chubar, V., Turner, J., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2024). Exploring the role of OXTR gene methylation in attachment development: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychobiology, 66(5). https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22496