Study Purpose/Description
How does parenthood shape your brain? This is a study into the thinking work of raising children, from newborns to grandkids.
Becoming a parent doesn’t just change your family, it changes your brain. Research shows that parenthood alters brain structure, function, and even how we think about ourselves. Some of these changes may actually protect us against cognitive ageing. Remarkably, this happens in both mothers and fathers, suggesting that the everyday work of caregiving itself is what drives the change.
What’s involved?
We’ve developed a new tool called the LEAP scale, created with parents, psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, mathematicians, and neuroscientists to measure the mental load of parenthood.
Before we can understand how caregiving benefits the brain, we need a reliable way to measure it. Your participation helps us build a tool that could reshape how we think about brain health across the lifespan and recognise the invisible cognitive work parents carry every day.
You will be asked to complete a survey via Qualtrics. You will be asked:
- Basic demographic questions.
- Questions about your parenthood/grandparenthood/caregiving status.
- Questions about your experiences of parenting
