Missouri, March 11 -- Good parenting can make a huge difference as newborns learn to communicate and process information. An increasing amount of early childhood development research has indicated that parent training is a worthwhile investment in improving childhood outcomes.

However, there may be a limit to how much skillful parenting may boost a newborn's language and cognitive skills, particularly if the family is experiencing substantial deprivation.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis wanted to see how "prenatal social disadvantage," a newborn's brain volumes and parenting factor into cognitive and language abilities. Prenatal social disadvantage refers to not having the resources to meet a family's basic needs. To d...