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de Lange AMG, Leonardsen EH, Barth C, Schindler LS, Crestol A, Holm MC, Subramaniapillai S, Hill D, Alnæs D, Westlye LT. Parental status and markers of brain and cellular age: A 3D convolutional network and classification study. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 165:107040. [PMID: 38636355 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2024] [Revised: 03/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/30/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Recent research shows prominent effects of pregnancy and the parenthood transition on structural brain characteristics in humans. Here, we present a comprehensive study of how parental status and number of children born/fathered links to markers of brain and cellular ageing in 36,323 UK Biobank participants (age range 44.57-82.06 years; 52% female). To assess global effects of parenting on the brain, we trained a 3D convolutional neural network on T1-weighted magnetic resonance images, and estimated brain age in a held-out test set. To investigate regional specificity, we extracted cortical and subcortical volumes using FreeSurfer, and ran hierarchical clustering to group regional volumes based on covariance. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) derived from DNA was used as a marker of cellular ageing. We employed linear regression models to assess relationships between number of children, brain age, regional brain volumes, and LTL, and included interaction terms to probe sex differences in associations. Lastly, we used the brain measures and LTL as features in binary classification models, to determine if markers of brain and cellular ageing could predict parental status. The results showed associations between a greater number of children born/fathered and younger brain age in both females and males, with stronger effects observed in females. Volume-based analyses showed maternal effects in striatal and limbic regions, which were not evident in fathers. We found no evidence for associations between number of children and LTL. Classification of parental status showed an Area under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.57 for the brain age model, while the models using regional brain volumes and LTL as predictors showed AUCs of 0.52. Our findings align with previous population-based studies of middle- and older-aged parents, revealing subtle but significant associations between parental experience and neuroimaging-based surrogate markers of brain health. The findings further corroborate results from longitudinal cohort studies following parents across pregnancy and postpartum, potentially indicating that the parenthood transition is associated with long-term influences on brain health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Marie G de Lange
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | | | - Claudia Barth
- Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Louise S Schindler
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Arielle Crestol
- Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Sivaniya Subramaniapillai
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Dónal Hill
- Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC), EPFL-ETHZ, Switzerland
| | - Dag Alnæs
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Centre for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Lars T Westlye
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Centre for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Liu Q, Zhu S, Zhou X, Liu F, Becker B, Kendrick KM, Zhao W. Mothers and fathers show different neural synchrony with their children during shared experiences. Neuroimage 2024; 288:120529. [PMID: 38301879 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Parent-child shared experiences has an important influence on social development in children although contributions of mothers and fathers may differ. Neural synchronicity occurs between mothers and fathers and their children during social interactions but it is unclear whether they differ in this respect. We used data from simultaneous fNIRS hyperscanning in mothers (n = 33) and fathers (n = 29) and their children (3-4 years) to determine different patterns and strengths of neural synchronization in the frontal cortex during co-viewing of videos or free-play. Mothers showed greater synchrony with child than fathers during passive viewing of videos and the synchronization was positively associated with video complexity and negatively associated with parental stress. During play interactions, mothers showed more controlling behaviors over their child and greater evidence for joint gaze and joint imitation play with child whereas fathers spent more time gazing at other things. In addition, different aspects of child communication promoted neural synchrony between mothers and fathers and child during active play interactions. Overall, our findings indicate greater neural and behavioral synchrony between mothers than fathers and young children during passive or active shared experiences, although for both it was weakened by parental distress and child difficulty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Liu
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China
| | - Siyu Zhu
- School of Sport Training, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, 610041, PR China
| | - Xinqi Zhou
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, PR China
| | - Fang Liu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China
| | - Benjamin Becker
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, PR China
| | - Keith M Kendrick
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China.
| | - Weihua Zhao
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, PR China; Institute of Electronic and Information Engineering of UESTC in Guangdong, Dongguan, 523808, PR China.
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Allen KB, Tan PZ, Sullivan JA, Baumgardner M, Hunter H, Glovak SN. An Integrative Model of Youth Anxiety: Cognitive-Affective Processes and Parenting in Developmental Context. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2023; 26:1025-1051. [PMID: 37819403 DOI: 10.1007/s10567-023-00458-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
Multiple theoretical frameworks have been proposed to provide a more comprehensive picture of the risk factors that influence anxiety-related developmental trajectories. Nonetheless, there remains a need for an integrative model that outlines: (1) which risk factors may be most pertinent at different points in development, and (2) how parenting may maintain, exacerbate, or attenuate an affective style that is characterized by high negative emotional reactivity to unfamiliar, uncertain, and threatening situations. A developmentally informed, integrative model has the potential to guide treatment development and delivery, which is critical to reducing the public health burden associated with these disorders. This paper outlines a model integrating research on many well-established risk mechanisms for anxiety disorders, focusing on (1) the developmental progression from emotional reactivity constructs early in life to those involving higher-level cognitive processes later in youth, and (2) potential pathways by which parenting may impact the stability of youth's cognitive-affective responses to threat-relevant information across development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristy Benoit Allen
- Departments of Applied Behavioral Science and Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
| | - Patricia Z Tan
- Department of Psychiatry/Mental Health, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Megan Baumgardner
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - Hannah Hunter
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
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Abstract
Fathers have been an important source of child endurance and prosperity since the dawn of civilization, promoting adaptation to social rules, defining cultural meaning systems, teaching daily living skills, and providing the material background against which children developed; still, the recent reformulation in the role of the father requires theory-building. Paternal caregiving is rare in mammals, occurring in 3-5% of species, expresses in multiple formats, and involves flexible neurobiological accommodations to ecological conditions and active caregiving. Here, we discuss father contribution to resilience across development. Our model proposes three tenets of resilience - plasticity, sociality, and meaning - and discussion focuses on father-specific contributions to each tenet at different developmental stages; newborn, infant, preschooler, child, and adolescent. Father's style of high arousal, energetic physicality, guided participation in daily skills, joint adventure, and conflict resolution promotes children's flexible approach and social competence within intimate bonds and social groups. By expanding children's interests, sharpening cognitions, tuning affect regulation, encouraging exploration, and accompanying the search for identity, fathers support the sense of meaning, enhancing the human-specific dimension of resilience. We end by highlighting pitfalls to paternal contribution, including absence, abuse, rigidity, expectations, and gender typing, and the need to formulate novel theories to accommodate the "involved dad."
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Feldman
- Center for Developmental Social Neuroscience, Reichman University,Israel
- Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, USA
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Feldman R. Women in science: myth, harsh reality, or advantage. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1247242. [PMID: 38021232 PMCID: PMC10654634 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1247242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
To initiate discussion on women in science, we begin with Gerald Edelman's definition: "Science is imagination in the service of the verifiable truth," which underscores "verifiability," truth reached by evidence, as the pathway science charts to Truth. "Verifiability" is named after the Roman Goddess Veritas, the daughter of Cronos and the mother of Virtus, suggesting that mythology viewed science as embodied by a female, embedded in its historical time, and aimed to breed values. We contemplate three perspectives on the topic and discuss their potential risks. The Veracity (Veritas) Perspective holds that science is impartial to the gender, race, political camp, or religious affiliation of its practitioner and from this perspective "women in sciences" is an oxymoron; science is, essentially, genderless. We argue that this perspective is misleading. Becoming a scientist requires education, resources, encouragement, training, role models, time, and funding, and the lack of such provisions banned women from the gates of Truth. The Harsh Reality perspective brings data presenting a grim picture. From 1902 to 2022 only 3.6% of Nobel Prizes in sciences were awarded to women and percentages of women in top academic positions are a third or lower across the US and Europe despite earning about 50% of PhDs in sciences. We contemplate internal and external reasons for this reality. Finally, the Potential Advantage position asks whether women may have unique sensitivities in the road to cumulative knowledge. We base our discussion on 20th century philosophical models that call to move from the metaphysical and abstract to the daily and contextual in the acquisition of knowledge and on research describing the distinct neural pathways to motherhood and fatherhood. We conclude by highlighting our unique historical time and the emergence of novel topics in neuroscience through the work of female and male scientists; interaction synchrony, inter-brain communication, and social and affiliative neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Feldman
- Center for Developmental Social Neuroscience, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
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Borghini A. [A father's perspective for today's young families?]. SOINS. PEDIATRIE, PUERICULTURE 2023; 44:17-20. [PMID: 37813516 DOI: 10.1016/j.spp.2023.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Today, the distribution of parental roles is organised around an equity that is more than justified, but has the consequence of creating a territorial watershed where the negotiation of values, opinions, wishes and deep-seated needs is constantly activated. Where societal definitions used to provide a framework and contentment for transactions within the couple, the new generation finds itself obliged to cooperate and redefine the spaces and roles of each, with intergenerational issues multiplied tenfold and marital crisis often heightened.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayala Borghini
- Filière psychomotricité, Haute école de travail social, 28 rue Prevost-Martin, 1211 Genève 4, Suisse.
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Paquette D, StGeorge JM. Proximate and Ultimate Mechanisms of Human Father-child Rough-and-tumble Play. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 149:105151. [PMID: 37004893 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this contribution is to attempt to understand the adaptive functions of father-child rough-and-tumble play (RTP) in humans. We first present a synthesis of the known proximate and ultimate mechanisms of peer-peer RTP in mammals and compare human parent-child RTP with peer-peer RTP. Next, we examine the possible biological adaptive functions of father-child RTP in humans, by comparing paternal behavior in humans versus biparental animal species, in light of the activation relationship theory and the neurobiological basis of fathering. Analysis of analogies reveals that the endocrine profile of fathers is highly variable across species, compared to that of mothers. This can be interpreted as fathers' evolutionary adjustment to specific environmental conditions affecting the care of the young. Given the high unpredictability and risk-taking features of RTP, we conclude that human adult-child RTP appears to have a biological adaptive function, one of 'opening to the world'.
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Martínez-García M, Paternina-Die M, Cardenas SI, Vilarroya O, Desco M, Carmona S, Saxbe DE. First-time fathers show longitudinal gray matter cortical volume reductions: evidence from two international samples. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:4156-4163. [PMID: 36057840 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Emerging evidence points to the transition to parenthood as a critical window for adult neural plasticity. Studying fathers offers a unique opportunity to explore how parenting experience can shape the human brain when pregnancy is not directly experienced. Yet very few studies have examined the neuroanatomic adaptations of men transitioning into fatherhood. The present study reports on an international collaboration between two laboratories, one in Spain and the other in California (United States), that have prospectively collected structural neuroimaging data in 20 expectant fathers before and after the birth of their first child. The Spanish sample also included a control group of 17 childless men. We tested whether the transition into fatherhood entailed anatomical changes in brain cortical volume, thickness, and area, and subcortical volumes. We found overlapping trends of cortical volume reductions within the default mode network and visual networks and preservation of subcortical structures across both samples of first-time fathers, which persisted after controlling for fathers' and children's age at the postnatal scan. This study provides convergent evidence for cortical structural changes in fathers, supporting the possibility that the transition to fatherhood may represent a meaningful window of experience-induced structural neuroplasticity in males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magdalena Martínez-García
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Paternina-Die
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sofia I Cardenas
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Oscar Vilarroya
- Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Manuel Desco
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Bioingeniería e Ingeniería Aeroespacial, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Susanna Carmona
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Darby E Saxbe
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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