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Neurobiological Implications of Parent-Child Emotional Availability: A Review

Emma L M Clark1, Yuqin Jiao1, Karen Sandoval1

  • 1Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, 1570 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.

Brain Sciences
|August 27, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Parental relationships significantly impact child development, influencing behavior and neurobiology. Emotional availability (EA) offers a framework to understand and measure these crucial parent-child interactions for healthier development.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Parental influences are critical for child behavior, adjustment, and cognitive/language development.
  • Emerging research investigates the neurobiological impact of parent-child relationships.
  • The caregiving environment plays a key role in shaping child development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe how the caregiving environment influences child development.
  • To review and recommend "emotional availability" (EA) as a key concept and measurement for exploring parent-child relationships and neurobiology.
  • To propose a theoretical model integrating EA with child development constructs.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic review of existing research on child development and parental influences.
  • Overview of child development research concerning stress physiology, neuroendocrine system, genetics, epigenetics, and brain mechanisms.
  • Summary of research utilizing the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales to measure parent-child interactions.

Main Results:

  • The caregiving environment significantly impacts neurobiological functioning, including stress physiology, neuroendocrine systems, genetics/epigenetics, and brain mechanisms.
  • Emotional availability (EA) research demonstrates its relevance across these neurobiological domains.
  • The EA Scales provide a multi-dimensional framework for assessing the quality of parent-child relationships.

Conclusions:

  • Emotional availability (EA) is a valuable construct for understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of child development influenced by parental relationships.
  • EA offers a measurable framework to advance research on parent-child interactions and their developmental outcomes.
  • Future research should further explore the integration of EA within neurobiological and genetic research on child development.

Keywords:
biophysiological and neural mechanismsemotional availabilityparent–child healthy connections

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