Parental Hostility Predicts Reduced Cortical Thickness and Surface Area in Boys but Not Girls

Children’s biological sex interacted with parental hostility in early (ages 3-5) and later (ages 5-9) childhood to predict children’s reduced cortical thickness and surface area. For males only, parental hostility was prospectively and concurrently associated with children’s reduced thickness and surface area in regions implicated in affective and cognitive functioning.