{
  "id": 2399328,
  "title": "Oxytocin has opposite effects on men’s generosity depending on a their childhood experiences",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/21/oxytocin-has-opposite-effects-on-mens-generosity-depending-on-a-their",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-21T15:00:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/oxytocin-has-opposite-effects-on-mens-generosity-depending-on-a-their-childhood-experiences/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study published in Translational Psychiatry has revealed that the effects of oxytocin, a hormone linked to altruism, can vary depending on an individual's childhood experiences. The study, led by Nina Marsh from the University of Oldenburg's Department of Psychiatry and Vanessa Jeske, involved 54 healthy young men who were administered either oxytocin or a placebo nasal spray. The findings suggest that oxytocin can increase altruistic donations in adults who had experienced higher levels of childhood adversity, while having the opposite effect on those with fewer adverse early experiences. This suggests that early life events shape how the brain responds to social chemicals later in life. The researchers discovered that participants with higher childhood adversity donated an average of 8.22 Euros, while those with lower adversity donated an average of 20.01 Euros. When given oxytocin, the group with higher childhood adversity increased their donations to an average of 15.68 Euros, whereas the group with lower adversity decreased their donations to an average of 9.46 Euros. This indicates that oxytocin does not uniformly promote prosocial behavior, but rather tunes a person's sensitivity to social cues based on their existing baseline. The study emphasizes that early life experiences do not determine an individual's future behavior, but rather shape how they respond to social and neurobiological signals later in life.",
  "summary": "Childhood adversity might alter how the brain responds to social hormones. A study in Translational Psychiatry suggests oxytocin temporarily increases altruism in adults with difficult childhoods, but decreases generosity in those with fewer adverse early experiences.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}