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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Sep:155:105413.
doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105413. Epub 2023 Aug 31.

Four-week intranasal oxytocin administration reduces attachment avoidance in older women

Kylie A Wright  1 , Rebecca Polk  2 , Tian Lin  2 , David Feifel  3 , Natalie C Ebner  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Four-week intranasal oxytocin administration reduces attachment avoidance in older women

Kylie A Wright et al. Horm Behav. 2023 Sep.

Abstract

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) serves as a critical modulator of social cognition and social behavior. Adult attachment is an affiliative process crucial for social interaction across adulthood. Insecure adult attachment comprises two broad dimensions, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Both these dimensions of attachment are currently understudied regarding OT modulation, and especially in older adults. The present study determined the effects of chronic intranasal OT administration on adult attachment in generally healthy older women and men (aged 55-95 years). Embedded in a larger project, participants were randomly assigned to self-administer 24 international units of either OT or a placebo (P) intranasally twice daily for four weeks. The Experiences in Close Relationships Scale assessed adult attachment (anxiety and avoidance) pre- and post-treatment. There was no significant pre- to post-treatment change in attachment avoidance overall, but the treatment x timepoint x sex interaction was significant, in that women (but not men) in the OT (vs. P) group reported decreased attachment avoidance. No comparable effects were observed for attachment anxiety. Results suggest that older women may benefit from chronic intranasal OT treatment by experiencing less attachment avoidance in their adult relationships.

Keywords: Aging; Anxiety; Attachment; Avoidance; Oxytocin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Effects of chronic intranasal OT administration on adult attachment in generally healthy older women and men. A) For attachment anxiety, neither the treatment X timepoint nor the treatment X timepoint X sex interactions were significant; B) For attachment avoidance, the treatment X timepoint interaction was not significant but the treatment X timepoint X sex interaction was significant (F (1,115) = 4.30, p = 0.040, ηp2=0.036). In particular, women (but not men) in the OT (but not in the P) group reported lower attachment avoidance post- vs. pre-treatment (t(115) = 2.12, SE = 1.02, p = 0.036).
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