Figures & data
Figure 1. Mean total mood ratings+SEM, in participants administered either oxytocin (24 females/23 males) or placebo (24 females/25 males) at four separate intervals throughout the YIPS. Total mood ratings were calculated by summing the scores of each scale of the bipolar form of the POMS questionnaire. Participants initially provided mood ratings on the POMS questionnaire and were then administered either a single dose of 24 IU oxytocin or placebo. They completed a POMS questionnaire following a 50-min relaxation phase, and then, after each 10-min YIPS conversation. A sex × drug × time repeated measures ANOVA revealed a statistically significant decrease in total mood ratings following the two YIPS conversations p < 0.05, which was more pronounced in females than in males p < 0.05. Drug did not significantly predict mood ratings across time.
Table I. Mean cortisol levels (μg/dl), by gender and drug condition, across five time points throughout the YIPS.
Figure 2. Mean cortisol levels (μg/dl) + SEM, in participants receiving oxytocin (n = 47) or placebo (n = 49), and across five time points throughout the YIPS. Participants were administered either a single dose of 24 IU oxytocin or placebo upon arrival at the laboratory and then underwent a 50-min relaxation phase. They provided a cortisol sample immediately after the first and second 10-min YIPS conversations and then at three 10-min intervals following the second YIPS conversation. A sex × drug × time repeated measure ANCOVA (controlling for first cortisol measure) indicated that participants in the oxytocin condition displayed a decrease in cortisol over time, whereas participants in the placebo condition exhibited no change in cortisol concentrations over time p < 0.05.
