Correlations between father-child or mother-child interaction and brain structure in the characteristics of children.

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K14171
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 09030:Childhood and nursery/pre-school education-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Asano Michiko 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 特任研究員 (50750064)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: MRI / 白質・灰白質 / 子ども / 母子父子相互作用 / 発達障害

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Most studies on children to date have examined mother-child interactions and fewer have examined father-child interactions; studies on children with ASD have reported that the response and encouragement of the father as well as the mother is important in the acquisition of children's prosocial skills, suggesting the importance of father-child involvement. In addition, fathers and mothers have been reported to differ in their evaluations of their children, suggesting that there may be differences in the neural basis associated with the interaction. The present study assesses the quality of father-child and mother-child interactions with fathers of typically developing children, and the relationship between the quality and the neural basis of these interactions.

Free Research Field

脳科学、発達臨床心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

3~6歳の男児48名、そのうち母親23名、父親25名が参加した。親子遊び場面は、アイコンタクトと随伴性をコーディングした。次に、親の脳をMRIで撮像し重回帰分析を行った。独立変数は、年齢、アイコンタクト/随伴性の回数とし、従属変数は、灰白質量/白質量とした。その結果、母親における随伴性と灰白質量/白質量との間では、随伴性と右楔前部における灰白質量との間に正の傾向がみられた。父親では有意な結果は得られなかった。先行研究と同様、遊び場面における母親によるアイコンタクトや随伴性の多い働きかけは、幸福にかかわる脳領域が関係していることが示唆された。