Your parenting style can literally shape your child's brain

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-10-29 02:00

International

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The type of parenting a child experiences can literally shape their brain during vulnerable life stages, according to international researchers who scanned the brains of 173 young people over the first 21 years of their life. The researchers collected data on how 'harsh' or 'warm' the parenting styles were that the children were being exposed to throughout their life to see how and when it impacted brain development. The team say harsh parenting was associated with widespread differences in brain development in early childhood and localised differences in later childhood. Warm parenting was associated with localised brain structure differenced in middle childhood, and the researchers say children who experienced warmer parenting during this time also reported lower anxiety and depression during early adulthood, which for this cohort came during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Michigan, USA

Funder: This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grants R01MH103761, principal investigator [PI] Monk; R01 MH121079, PIs Hyde, Mitchell, and Monk; and R01 MH130442, PI Dunn), National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (grant R01 MD011716, PI Mitchell), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant T32HD007109, PIs McLoyd and Monk), and National Institute of Health Office of the Director (grant 1S10OD012240). Funding for the Future of Families and ChildWellbeing Study was provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grants R01-HD36916, R01-HD39135, U01-HD110063, and R01-HD40421) and a consortium of private foundations.

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