'Absentee parents,' lack of parental supervison affect brain development of children: study

A parent's absence from the life of a child may now have more implications than previously known, thanks to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), EurekAlert reports.

Researchers in China analyzed the brains of children who have been left without direct biological parent care for at least six months and found that these children have larger gray matter volumes in their brain.

Because parents from various developing countries look for jobs abroad to help support their families, children are left in the care of their grandparents or other relatives. PR Newswire reported that according to study author Yuan Xiao, Ph.D. candidate at the Huaxi MR Research Center and the Department of Radiology at West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, Sichuan, "We wanted to study the brain structure in these left-behind children."

"Previous studies support the hypothesis that parental care can directly affect brain development in offspring," said Dr. Xiao. "However, most prior work is with rather severe social deprivation, such as orphans. We looked at children who were left behind with relatives when the parents left to seek employment far from home."

Researchers led by Professor Su Lui conducted at the Second Affiliated Hospital & Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University studied MRI exams from 38 children aged 7 to 13, all of which were left behind by their biological parents, and compared this with the MRI exams of 30 girls and boys aged 7 to 14 who were living with their parents. Researchers also compared the gray matter volume in the brains of the two groups and compared the intelligence quotient (IQ) of each participant to assess cognitive function.

Results showed that those who were left behind had larger gray matter volumes in multiple brain regions, especially in the emotional brain circuitry compared to their counterparts who were living with their parents. In terms of IQ scores, there weren't much difference between the two groups, however, researchers noted that there was a negative association between the gray matter volume in the brain region linked to memory encoding and IQ scores.

Researchers noted that the greater the gray matter volume, the more it can affect the pruning and maturity of the brain. Because of the link of gray matter volume to IQ scores, researchers believe that kids who do not have parental care may experience a delay in brain development.

The Economic Times reports that according to Dr. Xiao, "Our study provides the first empirical evidence showing that the lack of direct parental care alters the trajectory of brain development in left-behind children."

"Public health efforts are needed to provide additional intellectual and emotional support to children left behind by parents," he recommended.