Breastfeeding mothers are more aggressive finds study that reveals 'mama bear' effect
By John Stevens
9th September 2011
Mothers who breastfeed their babies are twice as aggressive as bottle-feeding moms and women without children when confronted by a threat, a study has found.
Researchers found that the so-called 'mama bear' effect means that the psychological effect of breastfeeding gives women extra courage to defend themselves and their babies.
'Maternal defence does not involve nursing mothers going out and looking for bar fights, but when they have a helpless baby, they're more likely to defend themselves when the fight comes to them,' said Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, of UCLA's Department of Health Psychology.
The study published in the September issue of Psychological Science noted that similar aggression has been observed in lactating monkeys, rats, mice, deer, hamsters, lions, prairie voles and sheep.
For the research, 18 nursing mothers, 17 women who were using formula milk and 20 non-mothers were told to play a competitive computer game against a research assistant who posed as a rude and aggressive study participant.
When the women won rounds of the game, they got to choose how long and loudly they would blast their opponent with an annoying sound.
The blasts delivered by the breastfeeding mothers were twice as loud and as long as those given by bottle feeding mothers.
The researchers concluded that the bigger blasts were a sign of aggression.
The mothers' blood pressure was also measured and they study found the nursing mother had lower blood pressure, suggesting reduced anxiety.
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