Lifetime Engagement in the Activities of Parenthood (LEAP): Capturing personal transformation and the thinking and feeling work of parenthood across the lifespan
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{manariti2026lifetime,
title = {{Lifetime Engagement in the Activities of Parenthood (LEAP): Capturing personal transformation and the thinking and feeling work of parenthood across the lifespan}},
author = {Katia Manariti and Caroline Gurvich and Edwina R Orchard and Sharna Jamadar},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/v5tk9_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/v5tk9_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Lifetime Engagement in the Activities of Parenthood (LEAP): Capturing personal transformation and the thinking and feeling work of parenthood across the lifespan
AU - Katia Manariti
AU - Caroline Gurvich
AU - Edwina R Orchard
AU - Sharna Jamadar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/v5tk9_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/v5tk9_v1/
AB - 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.
ER -