In a study published in PNAS Nexus, researchers found positive parenting, a parenting style characterized by warm and supportive techniques, appears to buffer against the detrimental effects of childhood and adolescent stress.

Using data from the Healthy Brain Network project, researchers analyzed MRI brain scan of 500 children between the ages of 10 and 17 years old. The MRI allowed the investigators to assess various brain region sizes. The children were also asked about the number of negative life events they have experienced throughout family, school, and community and were to rate how much distress they experienced in each of those events.

From brain structural perspectives, while stressful events and physical abuses or neglect has led to smaller hippocampus region, the researchers found no association between increased stressful events and reduced hippocampus size in children who reported warmth and positive parenting, even if such events were rated to be highly distressful. This hippocampus is an important brain region for learning and memory.

In behavioral findings, children who reported positive parenting also exhibited less rule-breathing and behaviors of aggression.

However, researchers also found what’s most important is the perception of the children as to what is warmth and supportive parenting because their results show that even if parents report their parenting to be positive, their children still experienced high distress-associated hippocampal volume loss when their children did not see their parenting the same way.

The study highlighted the importance of nurturing and supportive parenting and as well as the importance of being able to adjust to your children’s parenting needs. Obviously we don’t want to coddle our children that they become needy and dependent, but we should also make sure they feel supported and nurtured in their growth.

I Kahhale et al. Positive parenting moderates associations between childhood stress and corticolimbic structure. PNAS Nexus. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad145