Experience of stress in childhood negatively correlates with plasma oxytocin concentration in adult men

Figures & data

Table I.  Descriptive data for measures (means, SEs and bivariate correlations).

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1. Oxytocin (log transformation)	–
2. Early life stress-childhood	− 0.34**
3. Early life stress-adolescence	0.02	0.57**
4. Recent stressful life events	− 0.01	0.25*	0.41**
5. Depressive symptoms	− 0.23*	0.38**	0.42**	0.23*
6. Trait anxiety	− 0.22*	0.20	0.20	0.09	0.37**
7. State anxiety	− 0.09	− 0.01	− 0.06	− 0.08	0.13	0.48**
8. Social desirability	0.07	− 0.05	− 0.20	0.02	− 0.27*	− 0.27*	− 0.20	–
Mean	5.72^†	4.66	3.98	314.32	0.83	2.21	2.12	0.55
SE	0.06	0.50	0.48	28.08	0.07	0.06	0.06	0.02

Note: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 (Pearson's correlation coefficients); SE, standard error

^† “oxytocin” expressed in pg/ml.

Table II.  Testing moderator effects of depressive symptoms and trait anxiety.

Step and variables	B	SE B	95% CI	β	R^2	Adjust R^2
Depressive symptoms as moderator
Step 1
ELS-C	− 0.17	0.07	− 0.31, − 0.04	− 0.28*
Depressive symptoms	− 0.08	0.07	− 0.21, 0.05	− 0.13	0.12**	0.12**
Step 2
ELS-C × depressive symptoms	0.09	0.06	− 0.04, 0.22	0.15	0.02
Trait anxiety as moderator
Step 1
ELS-C	− 0.18	0.06	− 0.31, − 0.06	− 0.30**
Trait anxiety	− 0.10	0.06	− 0.23, 0.02	− 0.17	0.14**	0.16**
Step 2
ELS-C × trait anxiety	0.12	0.06	0.00, 0.24	0.21*	0.04*

Note. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 (multiple regression analysis). CI, confidence interval and ELS-C, early life stress-childhood.

Figure 1.  Summary of a moderator effect: stressful life events in childhood (ELS-C), trait anxiety and plasma OT. Trait anxiety moderates the link between ELS-C and OT (n = 85; β = 0.24, t(86) = 2.38, p < 0.05, multiple regression analysis). In order to facilitate the interpretation of the graphs, log-transformed OT values are expressed as corresponding to the mean (mean ± SD) of ELS-C frequency and trait-anxiety scores.