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Lack of parental care affects brain development
Children who are left without direct parental care for extended periods of time show larger gray matter volumes in the brain and may also show delay in brain development, according to a new study.
Tokyo: Children who are left without direct parental care for extended periods of time show larger gray matter volumes in the brain and may also show delay in brain development, according to a new study.
The researchers wanted to study children who are left in the care of relatives for a period of more than six months without direct parental care.
MRI exams from 38 left-behind children (ages seven to 13) were compared to MRI exams from a control group of 30 children (ages seven to 14) living with their parents.
The researchers then compared the gray matter volume between the two groups and measured the intelligence quotient (IQ) of each participant to assess cognitive function.
They found larger gray matter volumes in multiple brain regions, especially in emotional brain circuitry, in the left-behind children compared to children living with their parents.
Since larger gray matter volume may reflect insufficient pruning and maturity of the brain, the negative correlation between the gray matter volume and IQ scores suggests that growing without parental care may delay brain development.
