Objective

Parenting and pubertal timing have consistently been associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence, and there is some evidence that the interaction between these factors may be important in conferring risk. However, few studies have investigated whether neurobiological factors mediate these relationships. The current study examined whether interactions between adrenarcheal timing and parenting styles were associated with affective brain function and, in turn, mental health difficulties.

Method

Participants were 88 healthy children (46 female and 42 male, mean age 9.42 years, SD = 1.08 years), with 45 classified as relatively early and 43 as relatively late in adrenarcheal development based upon adrenal hormone levels. Participants completed an affective face functional magnetic resonance imaging task, and parents reported on 5 parenting styles and on child internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Results

Negative parenting styles (corporal punishment and poor monitoring) were associated with brain hemodynamic response while viewing affective faces in several subcortical and lateral prefrontal regions, and adrenarcheal timing and/or sex moderated most of these relationships. Sex differences in associations between corporal punishment and brain activation to affective faces indicated that late females might show less adaptive affective neural function when more exposed to this parenting style.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that the interaction between parenting styles and adrenarcheal timing is associated with affective brain function in late childhood, with marked sex differences. Further longitudinal research with larger samples is needed to corroborate and expand upon these findings.

中文翻译：

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育儿方式与肾上腺授时与儿童晚期情感功能相关的交互作用

客观的

育儿和青春期时机一直与儿童期和青春期的症状内在化和外在化有关，并且有一些证据表明，这些因素之间的相互作用可能在赋予风险中很重要。但是，很少有研究调查神经生物学因素是否介导这些关系。当前的研究检查了肾上腺时间安排和父母教养方式之间的相互作用是否与情感性脑功能相关联，进而与心理健康困难相关联。

方法

参与者是88名健康儿童（女46例，男42例，平均年龄9.42岁，SD = 1.08岁），根据肾上腺激素水平，其中45例归类为肾上腺发育相对较早，而43例归类为相对较晚。参与者完成了情感面部功能磁共振成像任务，父母报告了5种养育方式以及孩子的内在和外在症状。

结果

负面的养育方式（体罚和监测不佳）与大脑血液动力学反应有关，同时在皮下和额叶前额叶外侧区域观察有表情的面孔，而肾上腺的时机和（或）性别减轻了大多数这种关系。体罚与情感面孔的大脑激活之间的关联性别差异表明，晚期女性在更暴露于这种育儿方式时可能显示出较少的适应性情感神经功能。

结论

研究结果表明，父母教养方式和肾上腺时机之间的相互作用与儿童晚期的情感性脑功能有关，并且存在明显的性别差异。需要对更大的样本进行进一步的纵向研究，以证实和扩展这些发现。