TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal warmth is associated with network segregation across late childhood
T2 - A longitudinal neuroimaging study
AU - Richmond, Sally
AU - Beare, Richard
AU - Johnson, Katherine A.
AU - Bray, Katherine
AU - Pozzi, Elena
AU - Allen, Nicholas B.
AU - Seal, Marc L.
AU - Whittle, Sarah
N1 - Funding Information:
SW was supported by a National Health Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship (ID: 1007716). MS was supported by The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation. This research was conducted within the Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, the Developmental Imaging Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Children’s MRI Centre, and The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. It was funded by the Australian Research Council (Discovery Grant ID: DP130103551). This project was supported by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The Royal Children’s Hospital, The University of Melbourne, and the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program. This project was also supported by RCH1000, a unique arm of The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation devoted to raising funds for research at The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Funding Information:
SW was supported by a National Health Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship (ID: 1007716). MS was supported by The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation. This research was conducted within the Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, the Developmental Imaging Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Children’s MRI Centre, and The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. It was funded by the Australian Research Council (Discovery Grant ID: DP130103551). This project was supported by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The Royal Children’s Hospital, The University of Melbourne, and the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program. This project was also supported by RCH1000, a unique arm of The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation devoted to raising funds for research at The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Richmond, Beare, Johnson, Bray, Pozzi, Allen, Seal and Whittle.
PY - 2022/9/13
Y1 - 2022/9/13
N2 - 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, M 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 (M 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.
AB - 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, M 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 (M 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.
KW - cortical thickness
KW - graph theory
KW - longitudinal
KW - magnetic resonance imaging
KW - parenting
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85138905051
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.917189
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.917189
M3 - Article
C2 - 36176802
AN - SCOPUS:85138905051
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
M1 - 917189
ER -