Prenatal prolactin predicts postnatal parenting attitudes and brain structure remodeling in first-time fathers

Protective role of parenthood on age-related brain function in mid- to late-life

“…First, the parental brain may be altered directly via biological changes [10][11][12] and/or the behavioral actions of caregiving 4,13 . As mentioned above, many previous studies have also found increased neuroplasticity in somato/motor regions across early parenthood in humans 5,12,[51][52][53][54][55] and animals 35,79,80 .…”

“…As this relationship exists for both males and females, it strongly implicates the parental environment, as a shared mechanism for females and males. However, there may also be distinct mechanisms with converging hormonal [10][11][12] and/or caregiving 4,9,13 outcomes similarly impacting increased connectivity in mothers and fathers. Regardless of the mechanism itself (environmental, hormonal, or some mixture of both), a direct impact of caregiving could imply that these effects may also exist for other types of caregivers, with a potential impact for nongestational parents of all genders, and perhaps even grandparents, childcare workers, and any other person with a strong relationship with, or responsibility for, children.…”

“…Across pregnancy and the postpartum period, the parental brain undergoes extensive structural and functional plasticity, supporting the requisite behavioral changes associated with caregiving [2][3][4] . This neuroplasticity is evident in mothers 5,6 and fathers [7][8][9] , and is related to both biological and environmental changes, such as hormone levels [10][11][12] , and the amount of time spent with one's child 4,9,13 . Although we have gained insight into the initial short-term impacts of parenthood on the brain, the endurance of associated changes in brain function across the lifespan, and their interactions with the process of normative aging remain unexplored.…”

Do Parental Hormone Levels Synchronize During the Prenatal and Postpartum Periods? A Systematic Review

“…All of the thirteen studies had tested for parental endocrinological linkage in cohabitating partners who were expecting or just had a child. Seven of these studies had been conducted in the USA (Aviv et al, 2023;Cárdenas et al, 2023;Edelstein et al, 2015;Khaled et al, 2021;Saxbe et al, 2015Saxbe et al, , 2017Sim et al, 2020), two in Canada (Berg & Wynne-Edwards, 2002;Storey et al, 2000), and two in Israel (Gordon et al, 2010(Gordon et al, , 2017, with the remaining two having been international studies involving the USA, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands (Braren et al, 2020(Braren et al, , 2021. The majority of studies involved a prospective longitudinal design, while four conducted a cohort study (Aviv et al, 2023;Braren et al, 2020Braren et al, , 2021Storey et al, 2000).…”

“…Seven of these studies had been conducted in the USA (Aviv et al, 2023;Cárdenas et al, 2023;Edelstein et al, 2015;Khaled et al, 2021;Saxbe et al, 2015Saxbe et al, , 2017Sim et al, 2020), two in Canada (Berg & Wynne-Edwards, 2002;Storey et al, 2000), and two in Israel (Gordon et al, 2010(Gordon et al, , 2017, with the remaining two having been international studies involving the USA, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands (Braren et al, 2020(Braren et al, , 2021. The majority of studies involved a prospective longitudinal design, while four conducted a cohort study (Aviv et al, 2023;Braren et al, 2020Braren et al, , 2021Storey et al, 2000). The quality of the included studies was primarily good; ten studies were deemed of good quality, one was deemed to be of fair quality, while the remaining two were deemed of poor quality (National Heart and Blood Institute, 2019; full quality assessment available in Appendix 1).…”