Improved parenting can change the way a teen's brain responds to strong emotions

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-10-28 02:00

Australia; VIC

Photo by Bence Halmosi on Unsplash

A parenting course aimed at helping teens regulate their emotions has been linked to changes in the way a teen's brain functions, according to Australian research. The researchers scanned the brains of 35 teen girls after their mothers had completed an evidence-based parenting intervention to help them guide their children around understanding and expressing emotion. These brain scans were compared to 35 girls whose mothers hadn't done the course. The researchers say if their mother had completed the course, the teens showed increased activation in some areas of the brain and decreased activation in others in response to regulating emotion compared to the other participants. These changes came with reductions in anxiety and internalised distress, the researchers say.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Orygen, The University of Melbourne, Deakin University

Funder: This study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (grant 1163499) awarded to Prof Whittle and an Early Career Research Grant from the University of Melbourne awarded to Dr Pozzi. Ms Lin was supported by the Melbourne Research Scholarship from the University of Melbourne.

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