Triadic Interactions of Families With Autism and Oxytocin

• Status: Withdrawn
• Trial end date: 2015-05-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The study will investigate the effects of an intranasal administration of oxytocin (OT) to parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) on the quality of mother-father-child interactions. Physiological and behavioral measures of parent-child triadic interaction quality will be assessed.

H1: Parents who receive OT will demonstrate greater parental engagement and nonverbal prosocial behaviors compared to parents who receive placebo.

H2: Children with ASD whose parents receive OT will have increased nonverbal prosocial behaviors during the discussion and play tasks compared to children whose parents' receive placebo.

H3: Parents who receive OT will demonstrate increased behavioral and physiological synchrony with their child during the discussion and play tasks compared to parents who receive placebo and their child.

• Phase: Phase 1
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
• Treatments: Oxytocin

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

For parents of patients with ASD and TD controls:

• Age between 25 and 60 years old

• Live with child

• Read and communicate in English

For patient with ASD:

• Age between 7 and 12 years old

• Lives with parents

• Has diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified(PDD-NOS)

• Communicates in English

• Has IQ at or above 75

For TD controls:

• Age between 7 and 12 years

• Lives with parents

Exclusion Criteria:

For parents of patients with ASD and TD controls:

• Female parents who state they are pregnant or have a positive pregnancy test

• Severe psychiatric, neurologic or medical illness

• Severe nasal pathology, atrophic rhinitis, recurrent nose bleeds, or history of cranial-surgical procedures (hypophysectomy)

• History of severe psychiatric diagnosis including schizophrenia, bipolar, and autism

• Divorce or separation

• Hypertension, pacemaker, cardiovascular medications

For patients with ASD:

• IQ lower than 75

For TD controls:

• Current psychiatric illness or developmental disability

• Current psychiatric medication