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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 163-173 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Child Maltreatment |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 18 Jan 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 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.
Funders | Funder number |
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Dutch Research Organization | |
Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam | |
Ministry of Youth and Families | |
Municipal Health Service Rotterdam | |
Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development | |
Sophia Foundation | S18-20 |
National Institutes of Health | 91211021 |
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | F31HD096820 |
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | |
European Research Council | 669249 |
ZonMw | |
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam | |
Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport | |
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek |
Keywords
- brain morphology
- discipline
- hippocampus
- magnetic resonance imaging
- parenting