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Social Support Can Buffer Against Stress and Shape Brain Activity
Open accessAbstract
Social support from close relationship partners is an important resource for coping with stress, particularly during childhood. We discuss ethical challenges associated with studying stress and its social buffering in the laboratory, as well as emerging evidence regarding two potential neural substrates for the social buffering of stress: hypothalamic oxytocin activity and activation of areas in the prefrontal cortex associated with effective self-regulation. We also address the role of early-life social experiences in shaping brain development, as well as recommendations for practice and policy that would advance the ethical treatment of children and reduce social inequalities in early-life experiences and opportunities-e.g., investing in programs that prevent child maltreatment and facilitating access to high-quality child care for economically disadvantaged families. We also debate the ethical implications of using oxytocin nasal sprays to simulate the stress-reducing properties of social support and advise waiting for more evidence before recommending their use.
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“These findings suggest that the social buffering effects of oxytocin may be dependent upon the early relationship with a responsive caregiver and that individuals with an unsupportive early life may not derive the same stress relief and oxytocin rise from social support (Hostinar and Gunnar, 2015).”
From The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development (2023) · cites this paper as Hostinar and Gunnar, 2015
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hostinar, C. E., & Gunnar, M. R.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hostinar, Camelia E.
- Venue
- AJOB Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-07-03
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 34-42
- ISSN
- 2150-7740 (ISSN-L)
- 2150-7759
- PMC
- PMC4607089
- OpenAlex
- W1779996476
- Cited by
- 131
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 7.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- AJOB Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (F32HD078048)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Keywords
- social support, stress coping, childhood stress, oxytocin, hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex, self-regulation, brain development, research ethics with children, child abuse prevention, childcare access, social inequality
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