Mothers' Attachment is Linked to their Children's Anti-Inflammatory Gene Expression via Maternal Warmth.

ABSTRACT: Research has demonstrated links between adult romantic attachment and one's own physical health; little is known about links between adult attachment orientations and offspring health. Prior work has shown that parents' greater attachment anxiety and avoidance predicts less warmth toward their children. Extensive work has also shown that lower maternal warmth has negative downstream effects on offspring health. We tested the novel hypothesis that mothers' dispositional romantic attachment would be linked-via maternal warmth-to their children's expression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1, higher expression of which is associated with healthier stress-regulation and inflammatory response. In a sample of 132 youth with asthma, we found that mothers' attachment anxiety and avoi

SUBMITTER: Stanton SCE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6219467 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature