Daniel Willingham recently sent a tweet about a new study titled Positive parenting predicts the development of adolescent brain structure: A longitudinal study.

It found that:

Parenting interventions may promote healthy adolescent brain development….In conclusion, we have found, for the first time, longitudinal effects of positive parenting on structural development of the brain during adolescence. Given that positive parenting has been found to be associated with increased positive adolescent outcomes, and resilience against negative adolescent outcomes, our results have implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying these relationships.

This doesn’t appear to be that big of a surprise to me. It is something that teachers might also want to keep in mind — if positive parenting has this kind of effect, perhaps positive teaching (using positive, not punitive, classroom management) might be a good idea, too.