Father-infant interactions and infant regional brain volumes: A cross-sectional MRI study

Vaheshta Sethna; Jasmine Siew; Inês Pote; Siying Wang; Maria Gudbrandsen; Charlotte Lee; Emily Perry; Kerrie P H Adams; Clare Watson; Johanna Kangas; Vladimira Stoencheva; Eileen Daly; Maria Kuklisova-Murgasova; Steven C R Williams; Michael C Craig; Declan G M Murphy; Grainne M McAlonan

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100721

Father-infant interactions and infant regional brain volumes: A cross-sectional MRI study

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2019 Dec:40:100721. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100721. Epub 2019 Oct 21.

Authors

Vaheshta Sethna¹, Jasmine Siew², Inês Pote², Siying Wang³, Maria Gudbrandsen², Charlotte Lee², Emily Perry², Kerrie P H Adams², Clare Watson², Johanna Kangas², Vladimira Stoencheva², Eileen Daly², Maria Kuklisova-Murgasova⁴, Steven C R Williams⁵, Michael C Craig², Declan G M Murphy⁶, Grainne M McAlonan⁶

Affiliations

¹ Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK. Electronic address: vaheshta.sethna@kcl.ac.uk.
² Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK.
³ Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK.
⁴ Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, UK.
⁵ Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, UK.
⁶ Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, UK.

Abstract

Fathers play a crucial role in their children's socio-emotional and cognitive development. A plausible intermediate phenotype underlying this association is father's impact on infant brain. However, research on the association between paternal caregiving and child brain biology is scarce, particularly during infancy. Thus, we used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the relationship between observed father-infant interactions, specifically paternal sensitivity, and regional brain volumes in a community sample of 3-to-6-month-old infants (N = 28). We controlled for maternal sensitivity and examined the moderating role of infant communication on this relationship. T2-weighted MR images were acquired from infants during natural sleep. Higher levels of paternal sensitivity were associated with smaller cerebellar volumes in infants with high communication levels. In contrast, paternal sensitivity was not associated with subcortical grey matter volumes in the whole sample, and this was similar in infants with both high and low communication levels. This preliminary study provides the first evidence for an association between father-child interactions and variation in infant brain anatomy.

Keywords: Father-infant interactions; Fathers; Infancy; Infant brain volume; MRI; Paternal sensitivity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Brain / physiopathology*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Father-Child Relations*
Fathers
Female
Humans
Infant
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Male

Grants and funding

MR/N026063/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom