Distinct influence of parental occupation on cortical thickness and surface area in children and adolescents: Relation to self‐esteem

Studies of socioeconomic disparities have largely focused on correlating brain measures with either composite measure of socioeconomic status (SES), or its components—family income or parental education, giving little attention to the component of parental occupation. Emerging evidence suggests that parental occupation may be an important and neglected indicator of childhood and adolescent SES compared to absolute measures of material resources or academic attainment because, while related, it may more precisely capture position in social hierarchy and related health outcomes. On the other hand, although cortical thickness and surface area are brain measures with distinct genetic and developmental origins, large‐scale neuroimaging studies investigating regional differences in interaction of the composite measure of SES or its components with cortical thickness and surface area are missing. We set out to fill this gap, focusing specifically on the role of parental occupation on cortical thickness and surface area by analyzing magnetic resonance imaging scans from 704 healthy individuals (age = 3–21 years). We observed spatially distributed patterns of (parental occupation × age(2)) interaction with cortical thickness (localized at the left caudal middle frontal, the left inferior parietal and the right superior parietal) and surface area (localized at the left orbitofrontal cortex), indicating independent sources of variability. Further, with decreased cortical thickness, children from families with lower parental occupation exhibited lower self‐esteem. Our findings demonstrate distinct influence of parental occupation on cortical thickness and surface area in children and adolescents, potentially reflecting different neurobiological mechanisms by which parental occupation may impact brain development.