global changes in brain development as well as changes in circuitries that support higher-level emotional and cognitive functioning (Bick & Nelson, 2016; Teicher et al., 2016). Longitudinal studies have shown that parenting quality during early years is associated with prospective changes in children’s brain development. For example, adolescents who experienced increases in harsh parenting across childhood showed an immature pattern of amygdala–prefrontal connectivity associated with poor socioemotional processing (Gard et al., 2022). In another study, higher frequency of aggressive parental behaviors during adolescence was associated with thickening of areas in the prefrontal cortex associated with poor attention and response inhibition (Whittle et al., 2016). Collectively, the atypical brain development among neglected and maltreated children is associated with lower cognitive functioning, potentially reflecting insufficient pruning and maturity of the brain (Meyers et al., 2019; Teicher & Samson, 2016), increased rates of psychiatric disorders, interpersonal problems, and engagement in high-risk antisocial activities (Steketee et al., 2021; Wilkinson et al., 2019).
