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Sensitivity analyses

Summary Even though the relatively limited available scientific literature indicates that fathers are important for child development from the earliest stages of parenthood onward, parenting research still predominantly focusses on mothers only. In this thesis, we report on findings resulting from a series of randomized controlled trials investigating neurobiological parameters across men’s transition into parenthood; the Father Trials. In Chapter 2, we report that fathers’ behavioural responses to infant crying, as well as baseline testosterone, are stable across the perinatal period. In contrast, fathers’ neural response to infant crying was found to undergo a noteworthy change from the prenatal to the postnatal period, indicating that some neural response to infant crying (e.g., those involved in visual imagery) emerge after the birth of their child. We also found that postnatal neural activation in response to infant crying in the right precentral gyrus was strongly related to postnatal parenting sensitivity, possibly indicating an important association between neural reactivity in response to infant signals and parenting quality. In Chapter 3 we report that fathers’ experiences of childhood maltreatment were found to be associated with inadequate inhibitory control over behavioural responses and / or emotional hyperreactivity in response to infant crying in the perinatal period. Specifically, this effect was only present for fathers with low structural connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala (i.e., uncinate fasciculus). These findings suggest that fathers are more or less resilient to the detrimental behavioural correlates of negative caregiving experiences dependening upon their brain’s white matter structure. In Chapter 4 we report on the behavioural effects of arginine vasopressin (AVP); a hormone which has been proposed to play a vital role in fatherhood. AVP administration in expectant fathers was found to lead to inadequate inhibitory control over behavioural responses and / or emotional hyperreactivity while viewing an unknown infant image compared to viewing an image representing fathers’ own infant, while the opposite was true under placebo. These findings suggest that AVP may be involved in the evolutionary selected ability to detect kinship and possibly induces an increase in protective aggression based on preference for facial resemblance in offspring. In Chapter 5 we report on the development and feasibility of the Prenatal Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting (VIPP-PRE), aimed at improving postnatal parenting quality and stimulating involvement in first-time fathers. With the use of real-time ultrasound images, expectant fathers interacted with their unborn children and were given feedback aimed at improving their ability to detect and understand their child’s behavioural signals as well as reinforcing fathers’ timely sensitive responses to those signals. Based on the evaluation by participating fathers and sonographers, we concluded that the VIPP-PRE is feasible and is received positively. Moreover, we found that fathers receiving the VIPP-PRE, compared to those receiving a control intervention, reported to have gained more insight into their relationship with their child, a better understanding of their child and its feelings, and more insight into their communication with their child. In conclusion, we have found support for the claim that several neurobiological processes (i.e., neural reactivity to infant signals and the vasopressin system) play a role in preparing expectant fathers for parenthood. However, fathers’ quality of care is associated with their own childhood experiences, depending upon fathers’ brain architecture. Although there has been a sharp increase in studies examining paternal behaviour and its underlying mechanisms, there is still much unknown. Within the Father Trials project, we aimed to put fathers at the heart of studying parenting and have provided an evidence-based, prenatal, and interaction-focused intervention aimed at providing support during the transition into fatherhood.