Early parenting linked to children's capacity for joy and lower mental health risk
A University of Notre Dame study led by psychologist Kaylin Hill examined how parenting during preschool relates to children's experience of joy and satisfaction in adolescence. The research, published in Communications Psychology, reports that early parenting is associated with a prominent neural marker of mental health risk. The findings suggest that positive parenting may help reduce later depression, anxiety, or substance use.
Kaylin Hill is a Notre Dame clinical psychologist who directs the Psychophysiology of Affect across the Lifespan Lab. Her research focuses on depression’s burden on individuals and families.
Her team observed parent–child interactions at age three, then tracked reward-related brain responses at ages 9, 12, 15, and 18. The 15-year study included 465 young people and parents at Stony Brook University, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Earlier findings show reward processing supports joy, excitement, and pleasure.
If these findings hold, they could inform parenting support and early mental health screening. Families with preschoolers, children, adolescents, clinicians, and educators may be affected. Positive parenting might help lower later depression, anxiety, or substance use by shaping reward responsiveness. However, observational links cannot prove causation, so real-world impact may depend on further research and intervention studies.