【话题阅读】
背景导入：青春期的孩子处在人生中一个十分特殊的成长时期，他们在身体上、心理上都会遇到很多挑战。若不能很好地处理这些问题，会给他们带来很多后续的消极严重影响。而研究表明，在良好的亲子沟通环境下成长的孩子会更积极、更健康。由此可见，家庭关系会对孩子的成长起到特别重要的作用。
Children with greater parent communication in early adolescence have less harmful alcohol① use and emotional eating in young adulthood, according to a new study in Biological Psychiatry. The 14-year study, which followed participants② from 11 to 25 years old, identified③ that the extent of communication between parents and children promotes the development of a brain network, which in turn protects against the overconsumption of food, alcohol and drugs. In this way, parent-child communication has a great effect on health behaviour in adulthood.
The study, led by Christopher Holmes, PhD and colleagues④ from the University of Georgia's Centre for Family Research, focused on rural African American families with a child 11 years of age.
Between the ages of 11 and 13 years, participants reported on interactions with their parents, including the frequency of discussions and arguing. When the participants reached 25 years of age, a subsample of 91 participants was recruited from the larger study to take part in a part that measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). Specifically, the researchers used FMRI to study a network of brain connections called the anterior salience network (ASN). The participants also answered questions about harmful alcohol use and emotional eating at age 25. Greater parent-child communication in early adolescence predicted⑤ greater connectivity of the ASN at age 25, supporting the idea that high-quality parenting is important for long-term brain development. Greater ASN connectivity was, in turn, associated with lower harmful alcohol use and emotional eating at age 25.
The findings point to the ASN as a brain mechanism⑥ for how parenting in childhood affects health behaviour in early adulthood. “These finding highlight⑦ the value of prevention efforts and parenting skills in childhood as a means to promote long-term, adaptive neurocognitive development，” said Allen Barton, PhD, corresponding author of the study.
[注释]
①alcohol n. 酒；酒精
②participant n. 参与者
③identify v. 确定；发现
④colleague n. 同事
⑤predict v. 预测
⑥mechanism n. 机制
⑦highlight v. 强调
