{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T07:29:03Z","timestamp":1777534143823,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,6]],"date-time":"2024-02-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1707177600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009633","name":"Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01HD100560"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01HD100560"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009633","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Children born preterm often face challenges with self-regulation during toddlerhood. This study examined the relationship between prematurity, supportive parent behaviors, frontal lobe gray matter volume (GMV), and emotion regulation (ER) among toddlers during a parent-assisted, increasingly complex problem-solving task, validated for this age range. Data were collected from preterm toddlers (n = 57) ages 15\u201330 months corrected for prematurity and their primary caregivers. MRI data were collected during toddlers\u2019 natural sleep. The sample contained three gestational groups: 22\u201327 weeks (extremely preterm; EPT), 28\u201333 weeks (very preterm; VPT), and 34\u201336 weeks (late preterm; LPT). Older toddlers became more compliant as the Tool Task increased in difficulty, but this pattern varied by gestational group. Engagement was highest for LPT toddlers, for older toddlers, and for the easiest task condition. Parents did not differentiate their support depending on task difficulty or their child\u2019s age or gestational group. Older children had greater frontal lobe GMV, and for EPT toddlers only, more parent support was related to larger right frontal lobe GMV. We found that parent support had the greatest impact on high birth risk (\u226427 gestational weeks) toddler brain development, thus early parent interventions may normalize preterm child neurodevelopment and have lasting impacts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children11020206","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,6]],"date-time":"2024-02-06T03:22:31Z","timestamp":1707189751000},"page":"206","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Parenting Influences on Frontal Lobe Gray Matter and Preterm Toddlers\u2019 Problem-Solving Skills"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Josselyn S.","family":"Mu\u00f1oz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cognitive Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Megan E.","family":"Giles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Children\u2019s Learning Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4122-740X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kelly A.","family":"Vaughn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Children\u2019s Learning Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Children\u2019s Learning Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Susan H.","family":"Landry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Children\u2019s Learning Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Johanna R.","family":"Bick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychology Department, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dana M.","family":"DeMaster","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Children\u2019s Learning Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"655","DOI":"10.1017\/S0305000907008070","article-title":"Early delayed language development in very preterm infants: Evidence from the MacArthur-Bates CDI","volume":"34","author":"Edgin","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. 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