Parenting quality at age 3 predicts adolescent reward responsiveness

July 23, 2026 - 12:44

A long-term study tracking 465 children from toddlerhood through late adolescence has found that the quality of parenting received at age three predicts how the brain responds to rewards during the teenage years. Researchers measured brain activity using EEG while participants completed a task involving monetary rewards. The results showed that neural reward responses increased steadily until mid-adolescence, then declined by age 18.

The study examined two key parenting factors observed when the children were three years old: positive parenting, such as warmth and support, and negative parenting, including harshness or criticism. Higher levels of positive parenting and lower levels of negative parenting at that early age were linked to stronger developmental changes in the brain's reward system later on. In contrast, early exposure to stress did not show a significant connection to these neural patterns.

These findings suggest that the early home environment may shape how the brain's reward circuitry develops across adolescence. The study adds to growing evidence that supportive parenting in early childhood can have lasting effects on brain function, potentially influencing motivation, decision-making, and emotional health during the teenage years.