A recent study from the newest volume of Development and Psychology has revealed that harsh parenting can cause long-term deficits in brain development. The lead author – Dr. Sabrina Suffren from the University of Montreal – opined that repetitive violence, manhandling, and rebuke is associated to smaller brain structures in adolescents.
The article primarily explores the impact that coercive parenting practices – which are quite commonly used across the world – have on the development of child. Suffren commented that the consequences of harsh parenting also extend to deficiencies in social and emotional development. Suffren’s statement is supported by older studies which have indicated that children who experience parental abuse have smaller pre-frontal cortexes and amygdala; these brain structures play a critical role in emotional development and the regulation of anxiety and depression. The current study reveals that even harsh parenting practices far removed from serious abuse can have an effect on brain development. This new revelation succeeds a previously published study that provided evidence that harsh parenting practices can affect the cognitive functioning of children.
The conclusions drawn by the study are noteworthy because the data employed was derived from children who were observed since their birth after the turn of the century. The observations were carried out by means of a collaboration between the University of Montreal’s Children Psychosocial Maladjustment Research Unit (GRIP) and the Québec Statistical Institute.
As part of the study, children aged between 2 and 9 were annually evaluated to ascertain anxiety levels and parenting practices being employed. After dividing the subjects into different groups based on lenient /harsh parenting styles and high/low anxiety levels, the researchers performed anatomical MRIs on them through ages 12 to 16. It was then inferred that repetitive exposure to harsh parenting practices caused deficits in brain development.
The study is the first to attempt the establishment of a link between anxiety, brain development, and harsh parenting practices.
Reference:
Suffren, S., La Buissonnière-Ariza, V., Tucholka, A., Nassim, M., Séguin, J. R., Boivin, M., … & Maheu, F. S. (2021). Prefrontal cortex and amygdala anatomy in youth with persistent levels of harsh parenting practices and subclinical anxiety symptoms over time during childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 1-12.
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