Harsh Parenting and Child Brain Morphology: A Population-Based Study

Andrea P. Cortes Hidalgo, Sandra Thijssen, Scott W. Delaney, Meike W. Vernooij, Pauline W. Jansen, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Tonya White, Henning Tiemeier*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

115 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Evidence suggests that maltreatment shapes the child’s brain. Little is known, however, about how normal variation in parenting influences the child neurodevelopment. We examined whether harsh parenting is associated with the brain morphology in 2,410 children from a population-based cohort. Mothers and fathers independently reported harsh parenting at child age 3 years. Structural and diffusion-weighted brain morphological measures were acquired with MRI scans at age 10 years. We explored whether associations between parenting and brain morphology were explained by co-occurring adversities, and whether there was a joint effect of both parents’ harsh parenting. Maternal harsh parenting was associated with smaller total gray (β = −0.05 (95%CI = −0.08; −0.01)), cerebral white matter and amygdala volumes (β = −0.04 (95%CI = −0.07; 0)). These associations were also observed with the combined harsh parenting measure and were robust to the adjustment for multiple confounding factors. Similar associations, although non-significant, were found between paternal parenting and these brain outcomes. Maternal and paternal harsh parenting were not associated with the hippocampus or the white matter microstructural metrics. We found a long-term association between harsh parenting and the global brain and amygdala volumes in preadolescents, suggesting that adverse rearing environments common in the general population are related to child brain morphology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)163-173
Number of pages11
JournalChild Maltreatment
Volume27
Issue number2
Early online date18 Jan 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank participating children and parents, general practitioners, hospitals, midwives, and pharmacies in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The general design of the Generation R Study received financial support from the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and the Ministry of Youth and Families. Image analysis, infrastructure, and supercomputing were supported by the Sophia Foundation (S18-20) and the Dutch Research Organization (NWO, SurfSara). MJBK was supported by the European Research Council (ERC AdG, grant No.669249). The work of APCH and MHvIJ was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Spinoza Award 2004 (to MHvIJ). SWD was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (Award No.F31HD096820). The neuroimaging and neuroimaging infrastructure is supported in part by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) TOP project number 91211021 awarded to TW. HT was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Grant No.NWO-grant:016.VICI.170.200). The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in collaboration with the School of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Funding

The authors thank participating children and parents, general practitioners, hospitals, midwives, and pharmacies in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The general design of the Generation R Study received financial support from the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and the Ministry of Youth and Families. Image analysis, infrastructure, and supercomputing were supported by the Sophia Foundation (S18-20) and the Dutch Research Organization (NWO, SurfSara). MJBK was supported by the European Research Council (ERC AdG, grant No.669249). The work of APCH and MHvIJ was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Spinoza Award 2004 (to MHvIJ). SWD was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (Award No.F31HD096820). The neuroimaging and neuroimaging infrastructure is supported in part by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) TOP project number 91211021 awarded to TW. HT was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Grant No.NWO-grant:016.VICI.170.200). The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in collaboration with the School of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam.

FundersFunder number
Dutch Research Organization
Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam
Ministry of Youth and Families
Municipal Health Service Rotterdam
Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development
Sophia FoundationS18-20
National Institutes of Health91211021
National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentF31HD096820
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
European Research Council669249
ZonMw
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

    Keywords

    • brain morphology
    • discipline
    • hippocampus
    • magnetic resonance imaging
    • parenting

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Harsh Parenting and Child Brain Morphology: A Population-Based Study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this