Physiological study on parent-child relationship from the prenatal period to infancy

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K04385
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educational psychology
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: Yato Yuko 立命館大学, 総合心理学部, 教授 (20352784)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 縦断研究 / 生理指標 / 社会的関係性 / オキシトシン / コルチゾール

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The longitudinal ‘Ibaraki Cohort’ study was conducted aiming to clarify the influence of social and physical environmental factors on parenting and children’s development. Forty mothers and their children out of two hundred Ibaraki Cohort study registrants(ranging from the fetus period to infancy) participated in the physiological study. The mothers were asked to collect saliva four times in a day periodically, in order to extract physiological indices (cortisol/oxytocin).The results revealed that the cortisol secretion pattern in pregnancy had similarity to the one in non-pregnancy, and higher Cortisol awakening response was related to higher QOL score in pregnancy. In addition, there were relationships between maternal cortisol secretion in pregnancy and children’s social development (responsiveness) and temperament(surgency) in infancy. The results were discussed from the point of view of predictive adaptive responses.

Free Research Field

発達心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

養育者と子どもの発達のプロセスを縦断的に追跡し定量的データを収集することは，発達心理学研究において最も重要でありながら，とりわけ我が国においては国際的に見ても遅れをとっているのが現状である。本研究は，これまで客観的指標に乏しかった親子の社会的関係性について，発達心理学・生理学・地域社会学といった学問領域が領域架橋的に集結した縦断研究であるところに学術的意義がある。親子関係の諸問題を個体内要因のみに帰属させることなく，行政機関との連携に繋げ，家族，地域社会を巻き込んだ形で，科学的根拠に基づく子育て支援のあり方の提案をめざすところに社会的意義を有する。