Completed: Recruitment, data collection, and data quality management completed
Twenty-five mothers with BPD and 28 healthy mothers participated in a script-driven imagery fMRI paradigm, as well as in an observed mother-child interaction with their 18- to 36-month-old toddlers, which was micro- and macro-coded. Maternal blood samples were analyzed before interaction for oxytocin, cortisol, and testosterone, and after for oxytocin and cortisol. Findings suggest an altered activation in brain regions of salience, emotion perception and regulation during the imagination of mother-child interactions in mothers with BPD. Oxytocin decreased and cortisol remained unchanged in mothers with BPD while healthy mothers showed stable oxytocin and decreased cortisol after mother-child interaction. Cortisol reactivity and testosterone basal levels mediated the association between maternal BPD and dyadic negative states during interaction. Altered neural and hormonal regulatory mechanisms seem to contribute to disruptions in mother-child interaction in BPD. Interacting with their child might not result in reward and relief of stress in mothers with BPD, in contrast to healthy mothers.