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Editorial: Using parenting interventions as treatments and brain development - are we at the end of the beginning
1Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Insights
Parenting interventions show promise in improving child brain development, but more research is needed on their effects on brain structure and function in clinical child disorders. Rigorous studies are essential for advancing brain science in this area.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Parenting interventions are common treatments for child emotional and behavioral disorders.
- Existing research provides some evidence that positive parenting changes can impact brain development.
Discussion:
- There is a significant gap in understanding how parenting interventions specifically affect brain systems implicated in child clinical disorders.
- Current evidence primarily stems from studies on adverse parenting, not clinical trials targeting child disorders.
- The translation of parenting interventions into measurable brain changes for treating child disorders remains largely unexplored.
Key Insights:
- Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrate a causal link between improved parenting and certain aspects of brain development.
- However, few RCTs specifically examine the effects of parenting interventions on brain structure or function in children with clinical disorders.
Outlook:
- Further research is crucial to bridge the gap between parenting interventions and neurobiological outcomes in child mental health.
- Integrating neuroimaging and clinical outcome measures in RCTs is essential for establishing parenting interventions as a brain-based science.
- Future studies should focus on elucidating the neural mechanisms through which parenting interventions influence child psychopathology.
Abstract:
This editorial discusses where we stand in understanding how parenting interventions, frequently used in the treatment of child emotional and behavioral disorders, affect the brain systems that contribute to these disorders. It concludes that although we have some evidence from RCTs that improving adverse parenting causally impacts some aspects of brain development, there is almost nothing examining parenting randomized controlled trials to treat child clinical disorders and effects on brain structure or function. It argues that if we are to be a brain science, such studies are needed.
