New study: How parental behavior is linked to brain development
How parental behavior changes over the course of childhood and how it is linked to the development of key brain structures is examined in a new study by PhD candidate and first author Mirjam Habegger and a research team from the NMR Kids Lab led by Prof. Nora M. Raschle.
The findings are based on behavioral data from over 1,400 children and adolescents, MRI data from a subgroup in late adolescence as well as an additional MRI study with 40 children. They show that both supportive parental behaviors, such as praise or affection, and problematic behaviors decrease overall as children grow older. This is reported consistently by both parents and children.
Associations with brain development were also observed: Positive parental behavior was linked to the development of the amygdala, a brain region that plays a central role in processing emotions. Interestingly, this association differed in direction depending on age. Negative parental behaviors such as corporal punishment, by contrast, were associated with differences in a prefrontal brain region that is important for self-control and emotion regulation; however, this finding was only observed in childhood.
The results suggest that parental behavior is associated with brain development. Such associations are not only seen in cases of extreme adversity, but also in everyday variations in parental behavior. Moreover, they appear to differ depending on the stage of development.
The study was conducted as part of the NMR Kids Lab and the neuroscience unit of the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development (JCPYD), in collaboration with the University of Zurich’s Center for Neuroeconomics (ZNE) at the Department of Economics and the longitudinal z-proso study.