Parents play a notable role in the development of child psychopathology. In this study, we investigated the role of parent psychopathology and behaviors on child brain–symptom networks to understand the role of intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. Few studies have documented the interaction of child psychopathology, parent psychopathology, and child neuroimaging.

We used the baseline cohort of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 7,151, female-at-birth = 3,619, aged 9-11 years) to derive brain–symptom networks using sparse canonical correlation analysis with the Child Behavior Checklist and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We then correlated parent psychopathology symptoms and parental behaviors with child brain–symptom networks. Finally, we used the significant correlations to understand, using the mediation R package, whether parent behaviors mediated the effect of parent psychopathology on child brain connectivity.

We observed 3 brain–symptom networks correlated with externalizing (r = 0.19, internalizing (r = 0.17), and neurodevelopmental symptoms (r = 0.18). These corresponded to differences in connectivity between the default mode–default mode, default mode–control, and visual–visual canonical networks. We further detected aspects of parental psychopathology, including personal strength, thought problems, and rule-breaking symptoms to be associated with child brain connectivity. Finally, we found that parental behaviors and symptoms mediate each other’s relationship to child brain connectivity.

The current study suggests that positive parental behaviors can relieve potentially detrimental effects of parental psychopathology, and vice versa, on symptom-correlated child brain connectivity. Altogether, these results provide a framework for future research and potential targets for parents who experience mental health symptoms to help mitigate potential intergenerational transmission of mental illness.

Utilizing data from 7,151 participants in the ABCD Study, the authors found that positive parental behaviors, like acceptance and appropriate parental monitoring may reduce the potentially detrimental effects of parental psychopathology on child brain connectivity. These results provide potential targets for parents that experience mental health symptoms, or clinicians who treat families, to help mitigate potential intergenerational transmission of mental illness.