Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T03:22:29.481Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The interaction between oxytocin receptor gene methylation and maternal behavior on children's early theory of mind abilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2019

Anna L. MacKinnon Open the ORCID record for Anna L. MacKinnon [Opens in a new window] ,
Nancy Feeley ,
Ian Gold ,
Barbara Hayton ,
Leonora King ,
Corina Nagy ,
Stephanie Robins ,
Gustavo Turecki  and
Phyllis Zelkowitz
Anna L. MacKinnon
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nancy Feeley
Affiliation:
Centre for Nursing Research, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Ian Gold
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Barbara Hayton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Leonora King
Affiliation:
Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Corina Nagy
Affiliation:
Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Stephanie Robins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Gustavo Turecki*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Phyllis Zelkowitz*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
*
Author for correspondence: Gustavo Turecki, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Frank B Common Pavilion, Room F-3125, 6875 Boulevard LaSalle, Montreal, Quebec, H4H 1R3, Canada; E-mail: gustavo.turecki@mcgill.ca; or Phyllis Zelkowitz, Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, 4333 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, H3T 1E4, Canada; E-mail: phyllis.zelkowitz@mcgill.ca.
Author for correspondence: Gustavo Turecki, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Frank B Common Pavilion, Room F-3125, 6875 Boulevard LaSalle, Montreal, Quebec, H4H 1R3, Canada; E-mail: gustavo.turecki@mcgill.ca; or Phyllis Zelkowitz, Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, 4333 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, H3T 1E4, Canada; E-mail: phyllis.zelkowitz@mcgill.ca.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Theory of mind, the ability to represent the mental states of others, is an important social cognitive process, which contributes to the development of social competence. Recent research suggests that interactions between gene and environmental factors, such as oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) polymorphisms and maternal parenting behavior, may underlie individual differences in children's theory of mind. However, the potential influence of DNA methylation of OXTR remains unclear. The current study investigated the roles of OXTR methylation, maternal behavior, and their statistical interaction on toddlers’ early emerging theory of mind abilities. Participants included a community sample of 189 dyads of mothers and their 2- to 3-year-old children, whose salivary DNA was analyzed. Results indicated that more maternal structuring behavior was associated with better performance, on a battery of three theory of mind tasks, while higher OXTR methylation within exon 3 was associated with poorer performance. A significant interaction also emerged, such that OXTR methylation was related to theory of mind among children whose mothers displayed less structuring, when controlling for children's age, sex, ethnicity, number of child-aged siblings, verbal ability, and maternal education. Maternal structuring behavior may buffer the potential negative impact of hypermethylation on OXTR gene expression and function.

Keywords

maternal behaviormethylationOXTR geneoxytocintheory of mind
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , May 2020 , pp. 511 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Astington, J. W., & Edward, M. J. (2010). The development of theory of mind in early childhood. In Tremblay, R. E., Boivin, M., & Peters, R. (Eds.), Encyclopedia on early childhood development. Retrieved from http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/social-cognition/according-experts/development-theory-mind-early-childhoodGoogle Scholar
Bakulski, K. M., Halladay, A., Hu, V. W., Mill, J., & Fallin, M. D. (2016). Epigenetic research in neuropsychiatric disorders: The “Tissue Issue.” Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 3, 264–274. doi:10.1007/s40473-016-0083-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Banerjee, R., Watling, D., & Caputi, M. (2011). Peer relations and understanding of faux pas: Longitudinal evidence for bidirectional associations. Child Development, 82, 1887–1905. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01669.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S., Ring, H. A., Wheelwright, S., Bullmore, E. T., Brammer, M. J., Simmons, A., & Williams, S. C. R. (1999). Social intelligence in the normal and autistic brain: An fMRI study. European Journal of Neuroscience, 11, 1891–1898. doi:10.1046/j.1460-9568.1999.00621.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biringen, Z., Derscheid, D., Vliegen, N., Closson, L., & Easterbrooks, M. A. (2014). Emotional availability (EA): Theoretical background, empirical research using the EA Scales, and clinical applications. Developmental Review, 34, 114–167. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2014.01.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biringen, Z., Matheny, A., Bretherton, I., Renouf, A., & Sherman, M. (2010). Maternal representation of the self as parent: Connections with maternal sensitivity and maternal structuring. Attachment & Human Development, 2, 218–232. doi:10.1080/14616730050085572CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biringen, Z., Robinson, J., & Emde, R.N. (1998). The Emotional Availability Scales (3rd ed.). Unpublished manuscript, Colorado State University, Department of Human Development & Family Studies.Google Scholar
Biringen, Z., Robinson, J. L., & Emde, R. N. (2000). Appendix B: The Emotional Availability Scales (3rd ed; an abridged Infancy/Early Childhood Version). Attachment and Human Development, 2, 256–270. doi:10.1080/14616730050085626CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahill, K. R., Deater-Deckard, K., Pike, A., & Hughes, C. (2007). Theory of mind, self-worth, and the mother-child relationship. Social Development, 16, 45–56. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00371.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, S., Mandell, D. J., & Williams, L. (2004). Executive function and theory of mind: Stability and prediction from ages 2 to 3. Developmental Psychology, 40, 1105–1122. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.6.1105CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpendale, J. I. M., & Lewis, C. (2004). Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children's social understanding within social interaction. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27, 79–96. doi:10.1017/S0140525X04000032CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carter, C. S. (2014). Oxytocin pathways and the evolution of human behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 17–39. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115110CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cecil, C. A., Lysenko, L. J., Jaffee, S. R., Pingault, J. B., Smith, R. G., Relton, C. L., Woodward, G., … Barker, E. D. (2014). Environmental risk, oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) methylation and youth callous-unemotional traits: A 13-year longitudinal study. Molecular Psychiatry, 19, 1071–1077. doi:10.1038/mp.2014.95CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charman, A., & Baron Cohen, S. (1997). Brief report: Prompted pretend play in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27, 325–332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corcoran, R., Mercer, G., & Frith, C. D. (1995). Schizophrenia, symptomatology and social inference: Investigating “theory of mind” in people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 17, 5–13. doi:10.1016/0920-9964(95)00024-GCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dadds, M. R., Moul, C., Cauchi, A., Dobson-Stone, C., Dobson-Stone, C., Hawes, D. J., Brennan, J., … Ebstein, R. E. (2013). Methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene and oxytocin blood levels in the development of psychopathy. Development and Psychopathology, 26, 33–40. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000497CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, M. N., Volta, M., Pidsley, R., Lunnon, K., Dixit, A., Lovestone, S., … Mill, J. (2012). Functional annotation of the human brain methylome identifies tissue-specific epigenetic variation across brain and blood. Genome Biology, 13. doi:10.1186/gb-2012-13-6-r43CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Devine, R. T., White, N., Ensor, R., & Hughes, C. (2016). Theory of mind in middle childhood: Longitudinal associations with executive function and social competence. Developmental Psychology, 52, 758–771. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.44.1.113CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donaldson, Z. R., & Young, L. J. (2008). Oxytocin, vasopressin, and the neurogenetics of sociality. Science, 322, 900–904. doi:10.1126/science.1158668CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
ENCODE Project Consortium. (2012). An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome. Nature, 489, 57–74. doi:10.1038/nature11247CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enders, C. K. (2010). Applied missing data analysis. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Farré, P., Jones, M. J., Meaney, M. J., Emberly, E., Turecki, G., & Kobor, M. S. (2015). Concordant and discordant DNA methylation signatures of aging in human blood and brain. Epigenetics & Chromatin, 8. doi:10.1186/s13072-015-0011-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fein, G. (1975). A transformational analysis of pretending. Developmental Psychology, 11, 291–296. doi:10.1037/h0076568CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, R., Gordon, I., Influs, M., Gutbir, T., & Ebstein, R. P. (2013). Parental oxytocin and early caregiving jointly shape children's oxytocin response and social reciprocity. Neuropsychopharmacology, 38, 1154–1162. doi:10.1038/npp.2013.22CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, R., Monakhov, M., Pratt, M., & Ebstein, R. P. (2016). Oxytocin pathway genes: Evolutionary ancient system impacting on human affiliation, sociality, and psychopathology. Biological Psychiatry, 79, 174–184. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenson, L., Marchman, V. A., Thal, D., Dale, P. S., Bates, E., & Reznick, J. S. (2007). The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and technical manual (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Pethick, S., Renda, C., Cox, J. L., Dale, P. S., & Reznick, J. S. (2000). Short form versions of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 95–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frank, I., Poulin-Dubois, D., & Trudeau, N. (1997). Inventaire MacArthur du développement de la communication, Mots et énoncés. Montréal, Canada.Google Scholar
Gallagher, H. L., Happé, F., Brunswick, N., Fletcher, P. C., Frith, U., & Frith, C. D. (2000). Reading the mind in cartoons and stories: An fMRI study of “theory of mind” in verbal and nonverbal tasks. Neuropsychologia, 38, 11–21. doi:10.1016/S0028-3932(99)00053-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gaunt, T. R., Shihab, H. A., Hemani, G., Min, J. L., Woodward, G., Lyttleton, O., … Relton, C. L. (2016). Systematic identification of genetic influences on methylation across the human life course. Genome Biology, 17. doi:10.1186/s13059-016-0926-zCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gimpl, G., & Fahrenholz, F. (2001). The oxytocin receptor system: Structure, function, and regulation. Physiological Reviews, 81, 629–683. doi:10.1152/physrev.2001.81.2.629CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Astington, J. (1988). Children's understanding of representational change and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance–reality distinction. Child Development, 59, 26–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, I., Vander, W. B. C., Bennett, R. H., Cordeaux, C., Lucas, M. V., Eilbott, J. A., … Pelphrey, K. A. (2013). Oxytocin enhances brain function in children with autism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 110, 20953–20958. doi:10.1073/pnas.1312857110CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, J., Taylor, B., & Hollander, E. (2013). Oxytocin and autism. In Choleris, E., Pfaff, D., & Kavaliers, M. (Eds.), Oxytocin, vasopressin and related peptides in the regulation of behavior (pp. 367–378). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, S. G., Connelly, J. J., Towers, A. J., Johnson, J., Biscocho, D., Markunas, C. A., … Pericak-Vance, M. A. (2009). Genomic and epigenetic evidence for oxytocin receptor deficiency in autism. BMC Medicine, 7. doi:10.1186/1741-7015-7-62CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guastella, A. J., Einfeld, S. L., Gray, K. M., Rinehart, N. J., Tonge, B. J., Lambert, T. J., & Hickie, I. B. (2010). Intranasal oxytocin improves emotion recognition for youth with autism spectrum disorders. Biological Psychiatry, 67, 692–694. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.09.020CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holl, A. K., Kirsch, F., Rohlf, H., Krahé, B., & Elsner, B. (2017). Longitudinal reciprocity between theory of mind and aggression in middle childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 42, 257–266. doi:10.1177/0165025417727875CrossRefGoogle Scholar
How Kit, A., Nielsen, H. M., & Tost, J. (2012). DNA methylation based biomarkers: Practical considerations and applications. Biochimie, 94, 2314–2337. doi:10.1016/j.biochi.2012.07.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, C. (1998). Finding your marbles: Does preschoolers’ strategic behaviour predict later understanding of mind? Developmental Psychology, 34, 1326–1339. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.34.6.1326CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C., & Devine, R. T. (2015a). Individual differences in theory of mind from preschool to adolescence: Achievements and directions. Child Development Perspectives, 9, 149–153. doi:10.1111/cdep.12124CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C., & Devine, R. T. (2015b). A social perspective on theory of mind. In Lamb, M. E., Lerner, R. M., & Bonner, S. B. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (Vol. 3). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Hughes, C., & Esnor, R. (2005). Executive function and theory of mind in 2 year olds: A family affair? Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 645–668. doi:10.1207/s15326942dn2802_5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, C., & Ensor, R. (2007). Executive function and theory of mind: Predictive relations from ages 2 to 4. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1447–1459. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1447CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Integrated DNA Technologies. (2015). Oligo Analyzer (Version 3.1) [Online program]. Retrieved from https://www.idtdna.com/calc/analyzerGoogle Scholar
Jones, P. A. (2012). Functions of DNA methylation: Islands, start sites, gene bodies and beyond. Nature Reviews Genetics, 13, 484–492. doi:10.1038/nrg3230CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, L., Zelkowitz, P., Robins, S., Chen, G., Yerko, V., Zhou, Y., … Turecki, G. (2017). Perinatal depression and DNA methylation of oxytocin-related genes: A study of mothers and their children. Hormones and Behavior, 96, 84–94. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2017.09.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kooijman, M., Kruithof, C., Duijn, C., Duijts, L., Franco, O., IJzendoorn, M., … Jaddoe, V. (2016). The Generation R Study: Design and cohort update 2017. European Journal of Epidemiology, 31, 1243–1264. doi:10.1007/s10654-016-0224-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumsta, R., Hummel, E., Chen, F. S., & Heinrichs, M. (2013). Epigenetic regulation of the oxytocin receptor gene: Implications for behavioral neuroscience. Frontiers in Neuroscienc, 7. doi:10.3389/fnins.2013.00083Google ScholarPubMed
Kusui, C., Kimura, T., Ogita, K., Nakamura, H., Matsumura, Y., Koyama, M., … Murata, Y. (2001). DNA methylation of the human oxytocin receptor gene promoter regulates tissue-specific gene suppression. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 289, 681–686. doi:10.1006/bbrc.2001.6024CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lempers, J. D., Flavell, E. R., & Flavell, J. H. (1977). The development in very young children of tacit knowledge concerning visual perception. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 95, 3–53.Google ScholarPubMed
Lewis, C. R., & Olive, M. F. (2014). Early-life stress interactions with the epigenome: Potential mechanisms driving vulnerability toward psychiatric illness. Behavioural Pharmacology, 25, 341–351. doi:10.1097/FBP.0000000000000057CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, L. C., & Dahiya, R. (2002). MethPrimer: Designing primers for methylation PCRs. Bioinformatics, 18, 1427–1431. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/18.11.1427CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacKinnon, A. L., Carter, C. S., Feeley, N., Gold, I., Hayton, B., Santhakumaran, S., & Zelkowitz, P. (2018). Theory of mind as a link between oxytocin and maternal behavior. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 92, 87–94. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.03.018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McAlister, A. R., & Peterson, C. C. (2013). Siblings, theory of mind, and executive functioning in children aged 3–6 years: New longitudinal evidence. Child Development, 84, 1442–1458. doi:10.1111/cdev.12043CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDonald, N. M., Baker, J. K., & Messinger, D. S. (2016). Oxytocin and parent-child interaction in the development of empathy among children at risk for autism. Developmental Psychology, 52, 735–745. doi:10.1037/dev0000104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGowan, P. O., & Roth, T. L. (2015). Epigenetic pathways through which experiences become linked with biology. Development and Psychopathology, 27, 637–648. doi:10.1017/S0954579415000206CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McRae, A. F., Powell, J. E., Henders, A. K., Bowdler, L., Hemani, G., Shah, S., … Montgomery, G. W. (2014). Contribution of genetic variation to transgenerational inheritance of DNA methylation. Genome Biology, 15. doi:10.1186/gb-2014-15-5-r73CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meaburn, E. L., Schalkwyk, L. C., & Mill, J. (2010). Allele-specific methylation in the human genome. Epigenetics, 5, 578–582. doi:10.4161/epi.5.7.12960CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meltzoff, A. N., & Gopnik, A. (2013). Learning about the mind from evidence: Children's development of intuitive theories of perception and personality. In Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flausber, H., & Lombardo, M. (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience (pp. 19–34). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Domes, G., Kirsch, P., & Heinrichs, M. (2011). Oxytocin and vasopressin in the human brain: Social neuropeptides for translational medicine. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 12, 524–358. doi:10.1038/nrn3044CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milaniak, I., Cecil, C. A. M., Barker, E. D., Relton, C. L., Gaunt, T. R., McArdle, W., & Jaffee, S. R. (2017). Variation in DNA methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene predicts children's resilience to prenatal stress. Development and Psychopathology, 29, 1663–1674. doi:10.1017/S0954579417001316CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, S. A. (2016). Parenting and theory of mind. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moerbeek, K. (1994). Can't sleep. London: Western Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Molnar, C., & Gair, J. (2012). How hormones work. In Molnar, C. & Gair, J. (Eds.), Concepts of biology (1st Canadian ed.). Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/biology/chapter/18-2-how-hormones-work/Google Scholar
Müller, U., Liebermann-Finestone, D. P., Carpendale, J. I. M., Hammond, S. I., & Bibok, M. B. (2012). Knowing minds, controlling actions: The developmental relations between theory of mind and executive function from 2 to 4 years of age. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 111, 331–348. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2011.08.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, L. (2014). The psychology of babies: How relationships support development from birth to two. London: Constable and Robinson.Google Scholar
Murray, L., Cooper, P., & Fearon, P. (2014). Parenting difficulties and postnatal depression: Implications for primary healthcare assessment and intervention. Community Practitioner, 87, 34–38.Google ScholarPubMed
Parker, K. J., Garner, J. P., Libove, R. A., Hyde, S. A., Hornbeak, K. B., Carson, D. S., … Hardan, A. Y. (2014). Plasma oxytocin concentrations and OXTR polymorphisms predict social impairments in children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 111, 12258–12263. doi:10.1073/pnas.1402236111CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pavarini, G., de Hollanda Souza, D., & Hawk, C. K. (2013). Parental practices and theory of mind development. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 22, 844–853. doi:10.1007/s10826-012-9643-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 515–526. doi:10.1017/S0140525X00076512CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rijlaarsdam, J., IJzendoorn, M., Verhulst, F., Jaddoe, V., Felix, J., Tiemeier, H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. (2017). Prenatal stress exposure, oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) methylation and child autistic traits: The moderating role of OXTR rs53576 genotype. Autism Research, 10, 430–438. doi:10.1002/aur.1681CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruffman, T., Perner, J., & Parkin, L. (1999). How parenting style affects false belief understanding. Social Development, 8, 395–411. doi:10.1111/1467-9507.00103CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slane, M. M., Lusk, L. G., Boomer, K. B., Hare, A. E., King, M. K., & Evans, D. W. (2014). Social cognition, face processing, and oxytocin receptor single nucleotide polymorphisms in typically developing children. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 9, 160–171. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2014.04.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slieker, R. C., Bos, S. D., Goeman, J. J., Bovee, J. V., Talens, R. P., van der Breggen, R., … Heijmans, B. T. (2013). Identification and systematic annotation of tissue-specific differentially methylated regions using the illumine 450 k array. Epigenetics & Chromatin, 6. doi:10.1186/1756-8935-6-26CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. K., Kilaru, V., Klengel, T., Mercer, K. B., Bradley, B., Conneely, K. N., … Binder, E. B. (2015). DNA extracted from saliva for methylation studies of psychiatric traits: Evidence tissue specificity and relatedness to brain. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 168, 36–44. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32278Google Scholar
Smyth, G. K., Ritchie, M., Thorne, N., Wettenhall, J., Shi, W., & Hu, Y. (2002). Limma: Linear models for microarray data (Version 3.32.10) [Software package and user's guide]. Retrieved from https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/3.5/bioc/html/limma.htmlGoogle Scholar
Sodian, B., & Kristen, S. (2010). Theory of mind. In Glatzeder, B., Goel, V., & Müller, A. (Eds.) Towards a theory of thinking: Building blocks for a conceptual framework. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Sprong, M., Schothorst, P., Vos, E., Hox, J., & Van Engeland, H. (2007). Theory of mind in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 191, 5–13. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.107.035899CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stronks, K., Kulu-Glasgow, I., & Agyemang, C. (2009). The utility of “country of birth” for the classification of ethnic groups in health research: The Dutch experience. Ethnicity & Health, 14, 255–269. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.107.035899CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
UCSC Genome Bioinformatics. (2009a). CpG Island Info. Retrieved from http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgibin/hgc?hgsid=400079293_vSSMABFFTG02fzetLZOIGgRahbAe&c=chr1&o=206223537&t=206224028&g=cpgIslandExt&i=CpG%3A+46Google Scholar
UCSC Genome Bioinformatics. (2009b). Human Gene OXTR (uc003brc.3) Description and Page Index. Retrieved from http://www.genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgGene?hgg_gene=uc003brc.3&hgg_prot=P30559&hgg_chrom=chr3&hgg_start=8792094&hgg_end=8811300&hgg_type=knownGene&db=hg19&hgsid=408400907_8bPt4aaAVr8TcqfZklVgzVr1xAs4Google Scholar
UCSC Genome Bioinformatics. (2013). Transcription Factor ChIP-seq (161 factors) from ENCODE with Factorbook Motifs (CTCF). Retrieved from https://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgc?hgsid=661338359_02QQpUE4VzfybFiUqTNhIAjRTdJK&c=chr3&l=8807371&r=8813773&o=8809393&t=8809806&g=wgEncodeRegTfbsClusteredV3&i=CTCFGoogle Scholar
Unternaehrer, E., Meyer, A. H., Burkhardt, S. C., Dempster, E., Staehli, S., Theill, N., … Meinlschmidt, G. (2015). Childhood maternal care is associated with DNA methylation of the genes for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and oxytocin receptor (OXTR) in peripheral blood cells in adult men and women. Stress, 18, 451–461. doi:10.3109/10253890.2015.1038992CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, M., Hoffmann, T. J., & Jenkins, J. M. (2015). Gene–environment interaction between the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and parenting behaviour on children's theory of mind. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10, 1749–1757. doi:10.1093/scan/nsv064CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, M., Hoffmann, T. J., Wigg, K., & Jenkins, J. M. (2014). Association between the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and children's social cognition at 18 months. Genes, Brain, and Behavior, 13, 603–610. doi:10.1111/gbb.12148CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, N., & Su, Y. (2015). Oxytocin receptor gene relates to theory of mind and prosocial behavior in children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 16, 302–313. doi:10.1080/15248372.2013.858042CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yirmiya, N., Erel, O., Shaked, M., & Solomonica-Levi, D. (1998). Meta-analyses comparing theory of mind abilities of individuals with autism, individuals with mental retardation, and normally developing individuals. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 283–307. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.124.3.283CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yuksel, M. E., Yuceturk, B., Karatas, O. F., Ozen, M., & Dogangun, B. (2016). The altered promoter methylation of oxytocin receptor gene in autism. Journal of Neurogenetics, 30, 280–284. doi:10.1080/01677063.2016.1202951CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, F. F., Cardarelli, R., Carroll, J., Fulda, K. G., Kaur, M., Gonzalez, K., … Morabia, A. (2014). Significant differences in global genomic DNA methylation by gender and race/ethnicity in peripheral blood. Epigenetics, 6, 623–629. doi:10.4161/epi.6.5.15335CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, X., Li, D., Lowdon, R. F., Costello, J. F., & Wang, T. (2014). methylC Track: Visual integration of single-base resolution DNA methylation data on the WashU EpiGenome Browser. Bioinformatics, 30, 2206–2207. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btu191CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhou, X., Maricque, B., Xie, M., Li, D., Sundaram, V., Martin, E. A., … Wang, T. (2011). The Human Epigenome Browser at Washington University. Nature Methods, 8, 989–990. doi:10.1038/nmeth.1772CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ziller, M. J., Hansen, K. D., Meissner, A., & Aryee, M. J. (2015). Coverage recommendations for methylation analysis by whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. Nature Methods, 12, 230–232. doi:10.1038/nmeth.3152CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed