Intimate partner violence exposure predicts antisocial behavior via pro‐violence attitudes among males with elevated levels of cortisol

The present study tested whether attitudes toward violence mediate the association between intimate partner violence exposure and antisocial behavior across adolescence, and whether cortisol level moderates these pathways in an ethnically diverse sample of 190 boys from low‐income, urban families. Results suggest that a pathway from intimate partner violence exposure at age 12 to antisocial behavior at age 17 is explained by pro‐violence attitudes at age 15. Boys with greater exposure to intimate partner violence endorsed stronger pro‐violence attitudes, which predicted increases in antisocial behavior. Further, the pro‐violence attitudes to antisocial behavior pathway were stronger among boys with heightened versus dampened cortisol levels. Results suggest that violent attitudes are important for understanding the cognitive underpinnings of antisocial behavior following intimate partner violence exposure, particularly in youth with high cortisol levels. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed with respect to targeting malleable child behavior linked to later antisocial behavior.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146367/1/sode12313.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146367/2/sode12313_am.pd

Longitudinal tracking of human plasma oxytocin suggests complex responses to moral elevation.

Positive social experiences may induce oxytocin release. However, previous studies of moral elevation have generally utilized cross-sectional and simple modeling approaches to establish the relationship between oxytocin and emotional stimuli. Utilizing a cohort of 30 non-lactating women (aged 23.6 ± 5.7 years), we tested whether exposure to a video identified as capable of eliciting moral elevation could change plasma oxytocin levels. Uniquely, we utilized a high-frequency longitudinal sampling approach and multilevel growth curve modeling with landmark registration to test physiological responses. The moral elevation stimulus, versus a control video, elicited significantly greater reports of being "touched/inspired" and "happy/joyful". However, the measured plasma oxytocin response was found to be markedly heterogeneous. While the moral elevation stimulus elicited increased plasma oxytocin as expected, this increase was only modestly larger than that seen following the control video. This increase was also only present in some individuals. We found no relationship between plasma oxytocin and self-report responses to the stimulus. From these data, we argue that future studies of the relationship between oxytocin and emotion need to anticipate heterogeneous responses and thus incorporate comprehensive individual psychological data; these should include evidence-based variables known to be associated with oxytocin such as a history of trauma, and the individual's psychological and emotional state at the time of testing. Given the complexity of physiological oxytocin release, such studies also need to incorporate frequent biological sampling to properly examine the dynamics of hormonal release and response