ArticlePsychological science2011
Maternal defense: breast feeding increases aggression by reducing stress.
Article in Psychological science, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01834261 (Computational Modeling of Oxytocin in the Regulation of Trust), which is not on this map. Cited by 28 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Computational Modeling of Oxytocin in the Regulation of Trust
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Heartfulness meditation alters neuroendocrine profiles: A randomized controlled trial on hormones of stress and well-being.Medicine · 2025Trial
- Perinatal women dominantly protect-rather than submissively cede-resources when interacting with threatening-looking others.British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953) · 2026Article
- CART Neurons in the Hypothalamic Ventral Premammillary Nucleus (PMv) in Rats Mediate Maternal, But Not Inter-male Aggression.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Effects of reproductive experience on cost-benefit decision making in female rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2024Article
- Maternal physiological calming responses to infant suckling at the breast.The journal of physiological sciences : JPS · 2023Article
- Our Grandmothers' Legacy: Challenges Faced by Female Ancestors Leave Traces in Modern Women's Same-Sex Relationships.Archives of sexual behavior · 2022Article
- Rescue specialists in Cataglyphis piliscapa ants: The nature and development of ant first responders.Learning & behavior · 2022Article
- The Prolactin Family of Hormones as Regulators of Maternal Mood and Behavior.Frontiers in global women's health · 2021Review
- Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex: The Psychoneurobiology of the Breastfeeding Experience.Frontiers in global women's health · 2021Review
- Maternal programming: Application of a developmental psychopathology perspective.Development and psychopathology · 2018Review
- Psychological effects of breastfeeding on children and mothers.Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2018Review
- Aggression in Women: Behavior, Brain and Hormones.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2018Review
- Neuroendocrine control in social relationships in non-human primates: Field based evidence.Hormones and behavior · 2017Review
- Maternal Competition in Women.Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) · 2017Article
- Pregnancy: An Underutilized Window of Opportunity to Improve Long-term Maternal and Infant Health-An Appeal for Continuous Family Care and Interdisciplinary Communication.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2017Review
- Associations Among Lactation, Maternal Carbohydrate Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Health.Clinical obstetrics and gynecology · 2015Review
- Does breastfeeding prevent the metabolic syndrome, or does the metabolic syndrome prevent breastfeeding?Seminars in perinatology · 2015Review
- Wired for motherhood: induction of maternal care but not maternal aggression in virgin female CD1 mice.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2015Article
- Breastfeeding experience differentially impacts recognition of happiness and anger in mothers.Scientific reports · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Mothers in numerous species exhibit heightened aggression in defense of their young. This shift typically coincides with the duration of lactation in nonhuman mammals, which suggests that human mothers may display similarly accentuated aggressiveness while breast feeding. Here we report the first behavioral evidence for heightened aggression in lactating humans. Breast-feeding mothers inflicted louder and longer punitive sound bursts on unduly aggressive confederates than did formula-feeding mothers or women who had never been pregnant. Maternal aggression in other mammals is thought to be facilitated by the buffering effect of lactation on stress responses. Consistent with the animal literature, our results showed that while lactating women were aggressing, they exhibited lower systolic blood pressure than did formula-feeding or never-pregnant women while they were aggressing. Mediation analyses indicated that reduced arousal during lactation may disinhibit female aggression. Together, our results highlight the contributions of breast feeding to both protecting infants and buffering maternal stress.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.