Positive parenting predicts the development of adolescent neural reward circuitry: A longitudinal study
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1
The University of Melbourne, Australia
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2
Oregon Research Institute, United States
Little work has been conducted that examines the effects of positive environmental experiences on brain development. We prospectively investigated the effects of positive (warm, supportive) maternal behaviour on structural brain development during adolescence, using longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Participants were 188 (92 female) adolescents, who were part of a longitudinal adolescent development study that involved mother-adolescent interactions and MRI scans at approximately 12 years old, and follow-up MRI scans approximately 4 years later. FreeSurfer software was used to estimate the volume of limbic-striatal regions (amygdala, hippocampus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, and nucleus accumbens) and the thickness of prefrontal regions (anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices) across both time points. Rate per minute (i.e., frequency) of maternal positive behaviour during the interactions was calculated and used in regression models to predict change in volume and thickness of ROIs over time. Higher frequency of positive maternal behaviour predicted attenuated volumetric growth in the right amygdala, and accelerated cortical thinning in the right anterior cingulate (males only) and left and right orbitofrontal cortices, between baseline and follow up. Controlling for frequency of aggressive maternal behaviour (also measured from the interactions) did not change the pattern of results. These results have implications for understanding the biological mediators of risk and protective factors for mental disorders that have onset during adolescence.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the Colonial Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, and the University of Melbourne. Neuroimaging analysis was facilitated by the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre. The authors would like to thank the Brain Research Institute and the Murdoch Chidren’s Research Institute for support in acquiring the neuroimaging data, and Oregon Research Institute for its role in the coding of family interaction data
Keywords:
Brain Development,
positive affect,
Environmental Exposure,
Reward Learning,
orbitofrontal cortex (OFC),
amygdala volume,
anterior cingulate cortex (ACC),
Maternal Behavior
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Emotion and Social
Citation:
Whittle
S,
Simmons
J,
Dennison
M,
Vijayakumar
N,
Schwartz
O,
Yap
M,
Sheeber
L and
Allen
N
(2013). Positive parenting predicts the development of adolescent neural reward circuitry: A longitudinal study.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00074
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Received:
15 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Sarah Whittle, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia, swhittle@unimelb.edu.au