Can stress affect the male’s natural parenting capabilities?
We are living in an extremely fast-moving world, working at a hectic pace. No wonder then, that many people suffer from recurring bouts of anxiety and disorders associated with it. As regards mental health disorder chart in North America, anxiety disorder tops the list. It has been found that people experiencing persistent high levels of anxiety run a great risk of physical and mental health implications like irritable bowel syndrome, heart disease, obesity, asthma, insomnia, reduced productivity levels and an overall lower quantity of life. They require treatment for the same. Unceasing anxiety can lead to reduction in the patient’s capability to develop and preserve intimate relationships. The Physiological and Biochemical Zoology journal has conveyed through its article based on a recent study of the high chances that continued anxiety may be responsible in directly impacting a man’s ability to naturally father a child.
Researchers at the University of California conducted a study on mice to determine how the above can affect mental health and anxiety. It is a known fact that California mice have a penchant of forming monogamous relationships for life. The males too, are known to have strong paternal instincts. In these aspects, they differ in their basic nature from other rodents. The male rats not only assist in the delivery of pups, but they also keep them warm at night. They perform other paternal tasks like licking them clean, sometimes, even if the pups are not their own.
Trynke de Jong, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California, Riverside experimented with a male California mouse, who was an experienced father, in a test cage. He introduced an unknown pup into the cage. Within no time, the mouse began licking the pup and snuggled up close to it.
Researchers at California University were of the opinion that paternal response amongst male virgin rats varied with the variance in their social status. But when they conducted the same test on different mice that were not experienced fathers, they observed that they exhibited one of the following three reactions:
1. They acted paternally with the pup
2.They completely ignored the foreign pup or
3.They actually attacked the pup.
Hence it was concluded that it was not an effect of social status, but that anxiety levels in rats actually influenced the level of paternity in them.
The Effect of Stress on Rats
A few tests were conducted to determine the effect of stress on rats. In this, researchers placed twelve virgin male rats; two in each of six separate cages. It was observed that some male rats were inhibited about urinating in the middle of a new enclosure. This was an important analysis because this type of behavior indicated anxiety in rats. It was also noted that the same rats were also very much disinclined to advance towards a new pup. On performing further tests, these ‘less paternal’ rats were found to have higher levels of the hormone vasopressin in their brains.
The Effect of Stress on Human Males
It has been significantly studied that those people that have persistently high anxiety levels and mental health disorders were also found to have an increased level of vasopressin. Hence there is a definite connection between vasopressin and anxiety. Those with high levels of vasopressin exhibit aggressive behavior and following such a discovery, Jong concluded that the level of vasopressin that varies with the emotional state of animals can cause fluctuations in the expression of their paternal behavior.
As many times it has been observed that humans exhibit the same symptoms as that by rats when tests are conducted on them, Jong believes that the above conclusions could well depict the fact that anxiety plays a major role in the paternal behavior of humans.
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