Associations between perceived excessive maternal control in childhood, well-being, and dorsal striatum volume in older adults

Maternal bonding has been linked to the functioning of the dorsal striatum. Our aim was to examine how midlife perceptions of maternal parenting relate to late-life brain volume using the "Insight 46" neuroimaging sub-study of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) 1946 birth cohort. In a cross-sectional design, we investigated associations between retrospective maternal bonding and dorsal striatal volumes (bilateral caudate and putamen) in 452 cognitively healthy older adults with similar socio-economic backgrounds. Maternal care, control, and autonomy up to age 16 were reported at age 43, and T1-weighted brain images were acquired at age 70. K-means clustering categorized participants into three groups, with additional analyses on the 10th and 90th percentiles. Results showed that extreme maternal control (10th vs. 90th percentiles) was associated with smaller right caudate and left putamen volumes. No significant volume differences were found for maternal care or autonomy when comparing groups across the full sample or when comparing extreme groups. Greater perceived care and autonomy, alongside lower control, were associated with higher well-being. Our study showed that in a large population sample, extreme perceived maternal control was associated with smaller dorsal striatal volumes and lower well-being at 70 years of age. While there are important limitations related to retrospective and cross-sectional characteristics, our results speak to the potential endurance of effects throughout the lifespan, at a population level.