ArticlePloS one2016
Association of a Common Oxytocin Receptor Gene Polymorphism with Self-Reported 'Empathic Concern' in a Large Population of Healthy Volunteers.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Moral judgment and hormones: A systematic literature review.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Functional characterization of OXTR-associated enhancers.Human molecular genetics · 2025Article
- Genetic variations as predictors of dispositional and dyadic empathy-a couple study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effects of psychedelic microdosing versus conventional ADHD medication use on emotion regulation, empathy, and ADHD symptoms in adults with severe ADHD symptoms: A naturalistic prospective comparison study.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2024Article
- Association between Empathy and Clinical Symptoms among Overweight and Non-Overweight Chinese Chronic Schizophrenia Patients.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Reliability of Greek version of the Toronto empathy questionnaire in medical students and associations with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.BMC psychology · 2022Article
- Influence of Two Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) on Empathy: the Mediation Role of a Primary Emotion, CARE.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2021Article
- Oxytocin Pathway Gene (Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Functional Polymorphisms in Oxytocin and Dopamine Pathway Genes and the Development of Dispositional Compassion Over Time: The Young Finns Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Empathic disequilibrium in two different measures of empathy predicts autism traits in neurotypical population.Molecular autism · 2020Article
- Oxytocin receptor gene, childhood maltreatment and borderline personality disorder features among male inmates in China.BMC psychiatry · 2020Article
- Oxytocin receptor gene variants are associated with emotion recognition and resilience, but not with false-belief reasoning performance in healthy young Korean volunteers.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2019Article
- The oxytocinergic system mediates synchronized interpersonal movement during dance.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- How Cortisol Reactivity Influences Prosocial Decision-Making: The Moderating Role of Sex and Empathic Concern.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2019Article
- Sex-Related Differences in Plasma Oxytocin Levels in Humans.Clinical practice and epidemiology in mental health : CP & EMH · 2019Article
- Caring helps: Trait empathy is related to better coping strategies and differs in the poor versus the rich.PloS one · 2019Article
- Culture-Sex Interaction and the Self-Report Empathy in Australians and Mainland Chinese.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- Oxytocin-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms, family environment, and psychopathic traits.Personality disorders · 2018Article
- Sex-specific association of a common GNAS polymorphism with self-reported cognitive empathy in healthy volunteers.PloS one · 2018Article
- TheFrontiers in psychiatry · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrevious research has linked genomic variations of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene with individual differences in empathy. The impact of these variations on specific cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy, however, remains to be clarified.
methodsWe analysed associations of a common OXTR polymorphism (rs53576) with trait empathy in a sample of 421 blood donors (231 M, 190 F; age 18-74) using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) as an established multidimensional self-report measure of empathy.
resultsFemale sex was significantly associated with higher empathy scores in all IRI scales (p<0.001) with the exception of the cognitive perspective taking scale (p = 0.09). The overall trait empathy score was significantly associated with rs53576 (p = 0.01), with mean scores increasing from AA to GG genotypes. An analysis of the IRI subscores revealed that the polymorphism was especially associated with the emotional empathic concern scale (p = 0.02). Separate analysis of the male and female subgroup revealed a significant association of the polymorphism with female (p = 0.04), but not with male (p = 0.20) empathic concern. A comparison of effect sizes between the groups showed greater effects for women compared to men although effect size differences did not become significant in our sample.
conclusionsOur findings suggest a significant association of the rs53576 OXTR gene polymorphism with trait empathy and especially with emotional aspects of empathy. This association is possibly weaker or absent in men compared to women.
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