TY - JOUR

T1 - Endogenous oxytocin and human social interactions: A systematic review and meta-analysis

AU - Буренкова, Ольга Владимировна

AU - Долгорукова, Татьяна Александровна

AU - Ан, Юлия Олеговна

AU - Кустова, Татьяна Андреевна

AU - Подтуркин, Алексей

AU - Шурдова, Екатерина Михайловна

AU - Таланцева, Оксана Игоревна

AU - Жукова, Марина Андреевна

AU - Григоренко, Елена Леонидовна

PY - 2023/9/1

Y1 - 2023/9/1

N2 - While there has been an increase in studies investigating the relationship between endogenous oxytocin (OXT) concentrations and human social interactions over the past decades, these studies still seem far from converging, both in methodological terms and in terms of their results. This systematic review and meta-analysis were aimed at a comprehensive evaluation and synthesis of empirical evidence on the relationship between endogenous OXT concentrations and human social interactions by reviewing studies published between 1970 and July 2020 and addressing various related methodological and analytical limitations. Sixty-three studies were included in the qualitative synthesis, and results from 51 studies were pooled in a meta-analysis (n = 3,741 participants). The results indicated that social interaction did not lead to an expected hormonal response in causal designs, either in a pre–post design (g = 0.079) or when comparing experimental conditions with and without social interaction (g = 0.256). However, in correlational designs, the overall mean effect size (ES) of the correlations between indicators of social interaction and OXT concentrations was significantly different from zero (z = 0.137). In both designs, subgroup analyses revealed that studies involving either parent–child interactions, or the utilization of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method for OXT analysis, or unrestricted eating, drinking, or exercise before biofluid collection showed significantly higher than zero mean ESs. This review exposes the observed inconsistencies and suggests that standardized, replicable, and reliable approaches to assessing social interaction and measuring OXT concentrations need to be developed to study neurochemical mechanisms of sociality in humans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

AB - While there has been an increase in studies investigating the relationship between endogenous oxytocin (OXT) concentrations and human social interactions over the past decades, these studies still seem far from converging, both in methodological terms and in terms of their results. This systematic review and meta-analysis were aimed at a comprehensive evaluation and synthesis of empirical evidence on the relationship between endogenous OXT concentrations and human social interactions by reviewing studies published between 1970 and July 2020 and addressing various related methodological and analytical limitations. Sixty-three studies were included in the qualitative synthesis, and results from 51 studies were pooled in a meta-analysis (n = 3,741 participants). The results indicated that social interaction did not lead to an expected hormonal response in causal designs, either in a pre–post design (g = 0.079) or when comparing experimental conditions with and without social interaction (g = 0.256). However, in correlational designs, the overall mean effect size (ES) of the correlations between indicators of social interaction and OXT concentrations was significantly different from zero (z = 0.137). In both designs, subgroup analyses revealed that studies involving either parent–child interactions, or the utilization of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method for OXT analysis, or unrestricted eating, drinking, or exercise before biofluid collection showed significantly higher than zero mean ESs. This review exposes the observed inconsistencies and suggests that standardized, replicable, and reliable approaches to assessing social interaction and measuring OXT concentrations need to be developed to study neurochemical mechanisms of sociality in humans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

KW - meta-analysis

KW - oxytocin

KW - parent–child relationship

KW - social interactions

KW - systematic review

UR - https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fbul0000402

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/5dd55a48-4d2a-3fc1-92fd-bc76be589baa/

U2 - 10.1037/bul0000402

DO - 10.1037/bul0000402

M3 - Article

VL - 149

SP - 549

EP - 579

JO - Psychological Bulletin

JF - Psychological Bulletin

SN - 0033-2909

IS - 9-10

ER -