Human Maternal Brain Plasticity: Adaptation to Parenting
Open accessAbstract
New mothers undergo dynamic neural changes that support positive adaptation to parenting and the development of mother-infant relationships. In this article, I review important psychological adaptations that mothers experience during pregnancy and the early postpartum period. I then review evidence of structural and functional plasticity in human mothers' brains, and explore how such plasticity supports mothers' psychological adaptation to parenting and sensitive maternal behaviors. Last, I discuss pregnancy and the early postpartum period as a window of vulnerabilities and opportunities when the human maternal brain is influenced by stress and psychopathology, but also receptive to interventions.
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Adverse conditions, such as the pandemic, during developmental windows of heightened plasticity increase the risk of maladaptive stress responses.
“Adverse conditions, such as the pandemic, during developmental windows of heightened plasticity increase the risk of maladaptive stress responses.”
From Post-partum Women’s Anxiety and Parenting Stress: Home-Visiting Protective Effect During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022) · cites this paper as Kim, 2016
The Conclusion and Implications for At-Risk Mothers section describes pregnancy and early postpartum as a sensitive period in which severe stress and trauma may disrupt maternal brain changes. It does not address the pandemic or establish the claim for developmental windows generally, and it frames the increased vulnerability as a possibility rather than a certainty. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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The Role of Placental Hormones in Mediating Maternal Adaptations to Support Pregnancy and Lactation
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“…literature has extensively demonstrated that individuals exposed to such intense adverse conditions during developmental windows of heightened plasticity (Kim, 2016) may be susceptible to developing maladaptive stress responses and affective symptoms (Davis & Narayan, 2020; Pluess & Belsky, 2011).”
Background
- Authors
- Kim, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Denver (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kim, Pilyoung
- ORCID
- Kim, Pilyoung
- Venue
- New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-09
- Volume
- 2016
- Issue
- 153
- Pages
- 47-58
- ISSN
- 0195-2269 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-3247
- PMC
- PMC5667351
- OpenAlex
- W2512286909
- Cited by
- 102
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 0.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Commons - DU (University of Denver) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21 HD078797)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
- Keywords
- mother-infant relationship, pregnancy, postpartum period, maternal stress, maternal psychopathology
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Brain, Female, Humans, Maternal Behavior, Neuronal Plasticity, Pregnancy, Parenting, Postpartum Period
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