ArticlePloS one2020
Relationship between parenthood and cortical thickness in late adulthood.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring Subpopulations for Epidemiological Precision Nutrition Research: The Example ofNutrients · 2026Article
- The paternal brain: longitudinal insights into structural and functional plasticity and attachment over 24 weeks postpartum.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Traces of Parenthood but Not Pregnancy Loss in UK Biobank Structural Brain MRI Data.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- The effects of a second pregnancy on women's brain structure and function.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Intrinsic resting-state connectivity and personal meaning across the transition to fatherhood.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Cardiac remodelling, recognition memory deficits and accelerated ageing in a rat model of gestational diabetes.Diabetologia · 2025Article
- Protective role of parenthood on age-related brain function in mid- to late-life.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The neurobiology of parenting and infant-evoked aggression.Physiological reviews · 2025Review
- Hormonal and structural transformations in the caregiver's brain: Examining themes in parental neurobiology.AIMS neuroscience · 2025Review
- Longitudinal neuroanatomical increases from early to one-year postpartum.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- Enhancing brain health in the Global South through sex and gender lens.Nature. Mental health · 2024Article
- Enduring maternal brain changes and their role in mediating motherhood's impact on well-being.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Longitudinal Neuroanatomical Increases from Early to One-Year Postpartum.Research square · 2024Article
- Previous pregnancies might mitigate cortical brain differences associated with surgical menopause.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
- Recalibration of the stress response system over adult development: Is there a perinatal recalibration period?Development and psychopathology · 2023Review
- Cellular and molecular signatures of motherhood in the adult and ageing rat brain.Open biology · 2023Article
- The maternal brain is more flexible and responsive at rest: effective connectivity of the parental caregiving network in postpartum mothers.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Matrescence: lifetime impact of motherhood on cognition and the brain.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2023Review
- Interrelated effects of age and parenthood on whole-brain controllability: protective effects of parenthood in mothers.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Article
- Socio-Ecological Context of Sleep: Gender Differences and Couples' Relationships as Exemplars.Current psychiatry reports · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Pregnancy and the early postpartum period alter the structure of the brain; particularly in regions related to parental care. However, the enduring effects of this period on human brain structure and cognition in late life is unknown. Here we use magnetic resonance imaging to examine differences in cortical thickness related to parenthood in late life, for both sexes. In 235 healthy older women, we find a positive relationship between parity (number of children parented) and memory performance in mothers. Parity was also associated with differences in cortical thickness in women in the parahippocampus, precuneus, cuneus and pericalcarine sulcus. We also compared non-parents to parents of one child, in a sub-sample of older women (N = 45) and men (N = 35). For females, six regions differed in cortical thickness between parents and non-parents; these regions were consistent with those seen earlier in life in previous studies. For males, five regions differed in cortical thickness between parents and non-parents. We are first to reveal parenthood-related brain differences in late-life; our results are consistent with previously identified areas that are altered during pregnancy and the postpartum period. This study provides preliminary evidence to suggest that neural changes associated with early stages of parenthood persist into older age, and for women, may be related to marginally better cognitive outcomes.
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