This certainly infers that our
generational experiment with single parent families needs to be reviewed and
carefully studied as to the presence of deleterious biological impact. The implied assumption has been that there is
no problem.
Now we suddenly know that this is
not quite true.
I would go further. We need to rethink how we organize our
civilization to optimize child nurturing even when parent hate each other or
are simply not there. If that is not
important, then what is?
Mice with 2 parents grow healthier brains, research shows
New research out of the University
of Calgary
Scientists with the Hotchkiss Brain Institute divided mice into
different groups of pups raised by different combinations of parents, then
waited until the pups reached adulthood to look for an impact on brain cell
production.
"When the babies became older, they had two to three times more
brain cell production," said Samuel Weiss, the senior author of the study.
"And that made their behaviours stronger — the brain was stronger,
their behaviours were stronger, they were able to perform socially, physically better
in their environment."
Weiss says the advantages of dual parenting are also passed onto the
next generation of mice.
"The level of adult brain cell production is actually determined early on in development, and the numbers of parents could actually determine that, based on the amount of attention that they can give for their babies," he said.
Children brought up
by two parents are more intelligent - because they develop more brain
cells
- These children have more brain cells because they get more attention and stability and suffer less distress
- Means boys have better memories and learning ability
- Girls get better motor co-ordination and social skills
By EMMA INNES
Children who are
brought up by two parents grow up to be cleverer than those raised by
just one person, new research suggests.
Being with both
parents in the earliest years of life leads to a child developing
more brain cells, the scientists believe.
However, the benefits
vary between the sexes.
Being brought up by
both parents causes boys to have better memory and learning
functions.
By contrast, it causes
girls to develop improved motor co-ordination and sociability.
It is believed that
babies with two parents tend to get more attention and more
stability, and that they are less likely to suffer emotional distress
in the first years of life.
This leads to greater
brain cell production - for boys it is grey matter brain cells that
develop and for girls it is white matter brain cells.
The researchers from
the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) of Calgary University, in Canada,
studied mice and experimented by creating one parent and two parent
family groups.
They then measured the
offspring’s brain cell development from birth to adulthood.
Adult mice with the
highest number of brain cells turned out to be those who had been
brought up by two parents rather than one.
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As babies they had
received more attention and more nursing as both parents took turns
to lick and tend to their youngsters, said HBI director, Dr Samuel
Weiss.
As a result, the
babies with two parents are less likely to suffer early life trauma
which can have a massive impact on how their brains develop in later
life, the research shows.
However, what did
surprise the researchers is that female babies who grew up with both
parents turned out to be good single mothers, as if good parenting
was passed on.
Dr Weiss said: ‘Our
new work adds to a growing body of knowledge, which indicates that
early, supportive experiences have long lasting, positive impact on
adult brain function.
Being with both
parents in the earliest years of life leads to a child developing
more brain cells
‘Surprisingly, the
advantages of dual parenting were also passed along when these two
groups reproduced, even if their offspring were raised by one female.
‘The advantages of
dual parenting were thus passed along to the next generation.’
Although the
experiment was conducted on mice, many of the same principles of how
early life events can influence growing up are relevant to humans
too, the report added.
The researchers said:
‘In the mouse model, parenting and the environment directly
impacted adult brain cell production.
‘It is possible that
similar effects could be seen in other mammals, such as humans.’
1 comment:
Were any studies done of mice raised with three, four or more "parents"?
--Leslie <;)))>< Fish
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