The Impact of Parent–Child Interaction on Brain Structures: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Analyses

Abstract

There is a vast amount of evidence from psychological studies that the amount of parent-child interaction affects the development of children's verbal skills and knowledge. However, despite the vast amount of literature, brain structural development associated with the amount of parent-child interaction has never been investigated. In the present human study, we used voxel-based morphometry to measure regional gray matter density (rGMD) and examined cross-sectional correlations between the amount of time spent with parents and rGMD among 127 boys and 135 girls. We also assessed correlations between the amount of time spent with parents and longitudinal changes that occurred a few years later among 106 boys and 102 girls. After correcting for confounding factors, we found negative effects of spending time with parents on rGMD in areas in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) via cross-sectional analyses as well as in the contingent areas of the right STG. We also confirmed positive effects of spending time with parents on the Verbal Comprehension score in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. rGMD in partly overlapping or contingent areas of the right STG was negatively correlated with age and the Verbal Comprehension score in cross-sectional analyses. Subsequent analyses revealed verbal parent-child interactions have similar effects on Verbal Comprehension scores and rGMD in the right STG in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. These findings indicate that parent-child interactions affect the right STG, which may be associated with verbal skills.

Impact of videogame play on the brain’s microstructural properties: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses

“…For details about these measures including the detailed methods of assessment, please see our previous study. 23 …”

Impact of frequency of internet use on development of brain structures and verbal intelligence: Longitudinal analyses

“…For details about these measures, including the detailed methods of assessment, and who answers the questionnaires (guardian or subjects) and its rationale, please see our previous study (Takeuchi et al, 2015a;Taki et al, 2011). For details about these measures, including the detailed methods of assessment, and who answers the questionnaires (guardian or subjects) and its rationale, please see our previous study (Takeuchi et al, 2015a;Taki et al, 2011).…”

“…The following descriptions, except those of internet use, have been largely reproduced from our previous study of the same project (Takeuchi et al, 2015a). In both pre and post-experiments, we measured the Full Scale intelligence quotient (IQ) using the Japanese version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) for subjects aged 16 years or older or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) for subjects younger than 16 years (Azuma et al, 1998).…”

“…We only assessed and had the internet use habits at the pre-experiment because this project is a prospective longitudinal cohort study. As described previously (Takeuchi et al, 2015a), to indicate causality at certain levels with analyses in a prospective longitudinal cohort study, it is important that certain variables measured in the pre-experiment period predict (or precede) subsequent changes in other variables. It is a gold standard procedure for prospective longitudinal studies.…”

“…Further, as additional covariates, we gathered the following information: number of parents who live together with children, family's annual income, educational qualifications of both parents, and urbanicity (how many people live in the city) of the place (at the municipal level) where the subjects lived, and sleeping hours. For details about these measures, including the detailed methods of assessment, and who answers the questionnaires (guardian or subjects) and its rationale, please see our previous study (Takeuchi et al, 2015a;Taki et al, 2011). Among the covariates, urbanicity of the area of residence (at the municipal level) and sleep duration are not used in many studies in this field (rationale is provided in the Supporting Information Methods).…”