A Possible Mechanism of Stress-Relieving Effects of Spousal Presence and Implications for Future Infant Cry Research

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Infant crying is one of the parenting stressors, and our research suggests that the presence of spouse has a stress relieving effect in mothers with high attachment anxiety. Its mechanism is, however, still unclear. Here we will discuss the possible mechanism again corresponding to the commentaries. First, we briefly review the difficulties that individuals with high attachment insecurity face in parenting situation and discuss the possible cause why spousal presence smooth out the difficulties focusing on the role of oxytocin. Second, we point out potential issues in parenting research which presuppose the linear relationship between parental physiological or neural response, and parenting behavior. Finally, we discuss the future parenting research such as children with developmental disability or fathers that has gained less attention in previous research.