{
  "abstract": "Parenthood contributes to lasting changes in brain structure, function, and cognition, with emerging evidence suggesting a neuroprotective effect against cognitive ageing. Long-term environmental complexity is a recognised contributor to cognitive reserve. We recently proposed that the enduring cognitive and emotional demands of parenthood represent a unique form of environmental complexity. However, the absence of a well-defined construct capturing lifetime engagement in parenthood limits our ability to examine its impact on the parental brain. This qualitative phase of a mixed methods study examines how parents conceptualise the cognitive demands of caregiving across the lifespan, providing a conceptual foundation for the Lifetime Engagement in the Activities of Parenthood (LEAP) scale. Twenty-nine parents (21 mothers, 8 fathers) participated in one of five focus groups exploring the psychological and environmental demands of parenthood. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis within a critical realist framework. Three themes were developed: thinking work, feeling work, and personal transformation, each enduring and evolving from the peripartum period into late life. Taken together, these findings position lifelong engagement in parenthood as a form of environmental complexity that may influence normative ageing and contribute to cognitive reserve in late life.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Katia Manariti"
    },
    {
      "name": "Caroline Gurvich"
    },
    {
      "name": "Edwina R Orchard"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sharna Jamadar"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/am3cw22h0e6b2.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31234/osf.io/v5tk9_v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "am3cw22h0e6b2",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/v5tk9_v1/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Cognitive Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2738|Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213544964",
  "pdf_url": "https://osf.io/v5tk9/download",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-18",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/am3cw22h0e6b2.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:24:33Z",
      "native_id": "v5tk9",
      "source": "osf",
      "url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/v5tk9_v1/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "bepress:Cognitive Neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Lifetime Engagement in the Activities of Parenthood (LEAP): Capturing personal transformation and the thinking and feeling work of parenthood across the lifespan",
  "title_text": "Lifetime Engagement in the Activities of Parenthood (LEAP): Capturing personal transformation and the thinking and feeling work of parenthood across the lifespan",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:24:33Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/am3cw22h0e6b2",
  "venue": "PsyArXiv",
  "versions": []
}