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By Maria Morava
Relationships Reporter
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Many parents have been there—red-faced as your child makes you want to scream at the top of your lungs. New research suggests at different approach works better.
When parents respond to a child's behavioral problems with warmth and praise, it can do more than just improve their behavior—it can actually change how their brain works.
The new study from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London demonstrated that evidence-based parenting programs lead to meaningful changes in brain function in children with behavioral problems.
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The study, published in Biological Psychiatry, is the first to provide evidence for the effectiveness of these programs, highlighting the importance of early intervention.
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How the Brain Responds to Warm Parenting
To understand the neurological impact of positive parenting, researchers studied 78 boys with behavioral problems, aged five to 10. These boys, along with a control group of 35 other children, completed a reward-learning task while undergoing a functional MRI scan.
In the initial scans, the boys with conduct problems showed less activity than the control group in the insula, a key brain region for anticipating rewards.
The families of the boys with behavior problems then participated in a 10–12-week parenting program designed to promote positive behavior through warm and consistent parenting.
At the end of the program, the boys were classified as "improvers" or "persistent" based on whether their antisocial behavior had improved. All the children then repeated the task and scan.
The results were striking. The insula cortex region of the brain in the "improvers" group began to respond more like that of typically developing children, especially when they expected a reward. Other brain areas involved in decision-making and learning—such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus—also showed more normalized activity in the boys who improved.
"Parenting programmes are highly effective for many families. What's been missing is a biological account of how children's behavior improves," said study author and psychiatrist professor Michael Craig in a statement.
We show that when behavior gets better, so does the functioning of brain systems that evaluate rewards and punishments—particularly in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and insula."
Changes in Learning and Decision-Making
Beyond brain function, the study also found that the parenting program changed how the boys with improved behavior learned from their experiences.
They became slower to change their expectations after one good or bad outcome, which may lead them to make more balanced decisions over time.
The boys were also less likely to act impulsively, while growing more sensitive to the difference between reward and punishment.
Paper author and neuroscientist Arjun Sethi explained the behavioral changes using computational modeling.
"We found that responders learned more gradually and were less driven by a reflex to act. That combination—slower learning and reduced action bias—appears to support more thoughtful choices and fewer antisocial behaviors," he said in a statement.
This research underscores the profound impact that positive parenting can have on a child's development, offering a hopeful message for families and demonstrating that warmth and patience can create lasting changes in both behavior and the brain.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about kids' behavior? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Sethi, A., O'Brien, S., Blair, J., Viding, E., Shani, D., Robinson, O., Mehta, M., Ecker, C., Petrinovic, M.-M., Catani, M., Blackwood, N., Doolan, M., Murphy, D. G. M., Scott, S., & Craig, M. C. (2025). Successful Evidence-Based Parenting Programs Are Associated With Brain Changes and Improved Reward Processing in Boys With Conduct Problems. Biological Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.06.008
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