Richmond Sally, Beare Richard, Johnson Katherine A, Bray Katherine, Pozzi Elena, Allen Nicholas B, Seal Marc L, Whittle Sarah
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2022 Sep 13;13:917189. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.917189. eCollection 2022.
The negative impact of adverse experiences in childhood on neurodevelopment is well documented. Less attention however has been given to the impact of variations in "normative" parenting behaviors. The influence of these parenting behaviors is likely to be marked during periods of rapid brain reorganization, such as late childhood. The aim of the current study was to investigate associations between normative parenting behaviors and the development of structural brain networks across late childhood. Data were collected from a longitudinal sample of 114 mother-child dyads (54% female children, age 8.41 years, SD = 0.32 years), recruited from low socioeconomic areas of Melbourne, Australia. At the first assessment parenting behaviors were coded from two lab-based interaction tasks and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the children were performed. At the second assessment, approximately 18 months later ( age 9.97 years, SD = 0.37 years) MRI scans were repeated. Cortical thickness (CT) was extracted from T1-weighted images using FreeSurfer. Structural covariance (SC) networks were constructed from partial correlations of CT estimates between brain regions and estimates of network efficiency and modularity were obtained for each time point. The change in these network measures, from Time 1 to Time 2, was also calculated. At Time 2, less positive maternal affective behavior was associated with higher modularity (more segregated networks), while negative maternal affective behavior was not related. No support was found for an association between local or global efficacy and maternal affective behaviors at Time 2. Similarly, no support was demonstrated for associations between maternal affective behaviors and change in network efficiency and modularity, from Time 1 to Time 2. These results indicate that normative variations in parenting may influence the development of structural brain networks in late childhood and extend current knowledge about environmental influences on structural connectivity in a developmental context.
童年不良经历对神经发育的负面影响已有充分记录。然而，“正常”养育行为的差异所产生的影响却较少受到关注。这些养育行为的影响在大脑快速重组时期，如童年晚期，可能会很显著。本研究的目的是调查正常养育行为与整个童年晚期大脑结构网络发育之间的关联。数据来自于从澳大利亚墨尔本低社会经济地区招募的114对母婴二元组的纵向样本（54%为女童，年龄8.41岁，标准差 = 0.32岁）。在第一次评估时，从两项基于实验室的互动任务中对养育行为进行编码，并对儿童进行结构磁共振成像（MRI）扫描。在第二次评估时，大约18个月后（年龄9.97岁，标准差 = 0.37岁）重复进行MRI扫描。使用FreeSurfer从T1加权图像中提取皮质厚度（CT）。从脑区之间CT估计值的偏相关构建结构协方差（SC）网络，并在每个时间点获得网络效率和模块化的估计值。还计算了这些网络指标从时间1到时间2的变化。在时间2时，母亲较少的积极情感行为与更高的模块化（网络更隔离）相关，而母亲的消极情感行为则无关联。未发现时间2时局部或全局效率与母亲情感行为之间存在关联。同样，也未证明母亲情感行为与从时间1到时间2的网络效率和模块化变化之间存在关联。这些结果表明，养育方面的正常差异可能会影响童年晚期大脑结构网络的发育，并扩展了当前关于发育背景下环境对结构连通性影响的知识。
