Kahhalé Isabella, Barry Kelly R, Hanson Jamie L
Learning, Research, and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
PNAS Nexus. 2023 Jun 13;2(6):pgad145. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad145. eCollection 2023 Jun.
Childhood stress has a deleterious impact on youth behavior and brain development. Resilience factors such as positive parenting (e.g. expressions of warmth and support) may buffer youth against the negative impacts of stress. We sought to determine whether positive parenting buffers against the negative impact of childhood stress on youth behavior and brain structure and to investigate differences between youth-reported parenting and caregiver-reported parenting. Cross-sectional behavioral and neuroimaging data were analyzed from 482 youth (39% female and 61% male, ages 10-17) who participated in an ongoing research initiative, the Healthy Brain Network (HBN). Regression models found that youth-reported positive parenting buffered against the association between childhood stress and youth behavioral problems ( = -0.10, = 0.04) such that increased childhood stress was associated with increased youth behavior problems only for youth who did not experience high levels of positive parenting. We also found that youth-reported positive parenting buffered against the association between childhood stress and decreased hippocampal volumes ( = 0.07, = 0.02) such that youth who experienced high levels of childhood stress and who reported increased levels of positive parenting did not exhibit smaller hippocampal volumes. Our work identifies positive parenting as a resilience factor buffering youth against the deleterious impact of stressful childhood experiences on problem behaviors and brain development. These findings underscore the importance of centering youth perspectives of stress and parenting practices to better understand neurobiology, mechanisms of resilience, and psychological well-being.
童年期压力对青少年行为和大脑发育具有有害影响。诸如积极养育（例如温暖和支持的表达）等复原力因素可能会缓冲青少年免受压力的负面影响。我们试图确定积极养育是否能缓冲童年期压力对青少年行为和大脑结构的负面影响，并调查青少年报告的养育方式与照顾者报告的养育方式之间的差异。对参与一项正在进行的研究计划“健康大脑网络”（HBN）的482名青少年（39%为女性，61%为男性，年龄在10 - 17岁之间）的横断面行为和神经影像学数据进行了分析。回归模型发现，青少年报告的积极养育缓冲了童年期压力与青少年行为问题之间的关联（β = -0.10，p = 0.04），以至于只有那些没有经历高水平积极养育的青少年，童年期压力增加才与青少年行为问题增加相关。我们还发现，青少年报告的积极养育缓冲了童年期压力与海马体体积减小之间的关联（β = 0.07，p = 0.02），以至于那些经历高水平童年期压力且报告积极养育水平增加的青少年并没有表现出海马体体积较小的情况。我们的研究确定积极养育是一种复原力因素，可缓冲青少年免受童年期压力经历对问题行为和大脑发育的有害影响。这些发现强调了以青少年对压力和养育方式的看法为中心来更好地理解神经生物学、复原力机制和心理健康的重要性。
