Adolescent girls experienced more rapid brain aging than boys during the COVID-19 lockdowns, according to a recent study. MRI scans indicate premature brain aging for both sexes, but girls’ brains aged approximately 4.2 years more than expected, compared to 1.4 years for boys. The study has raised concerns regarding potential implications on adolescents’ mental health and learning abilities.
“We were shocked by these data that the difference is so dramatic,” said Prof Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington.
The research team began by collecting MRI scans from 160 children aged 9 to 17 in 2018. This data was used to model normal cortical thinning, a natural maturation process of the brain during adolescence. In 2021 and 2022, the team revisited the same group, now aged 12 to 16, to collect further scans. The post-lockdown scans revealed accelerated cortical thinning in one brain region for boys, but cortical thinning was observed in multiple brain areas for girls. These areas are critical for social cognition, emotion processing, facial recognition, and language comprehension.
Kuhl suggested that girls’ greater dependence on social interactions might explain their disproportionate brain aging. She notes the essential role of social scenes in girls’ neural, physical, and emotional development.
Other researchers, including Ian Gotlib from Stanford University, reinforced the importance of mental health support for youth, citing lasting stress from the pandemic. Similarly, Dr. Lina van Drunen from Leiden University highlighted the need to understand the factors behind premature brain aging and its long-term impacts.
