Parents of boys age faster than parents of girls.
Image via CanvaA new Columbia University study has found mums and dads of sons see their brain power drop away more quickly as they grow older.
Researchers say the more boys in a family, the worse the damage, with the effects being blamed on girls typically being more caring than boys and helping their parents stay healthy.
Parents of boys weren't any more or less clever at the start of an 18-year study, but as their children aged they scored lowered in intelligence tests than parents of girls at the same age.
Remember when we were younger and our parents said girls mature faster than boys? The truth is boys dont mature at all no matter what age smh
— Jessa Clare (@Jessasinclare) March 6, 2019
The findings are from 18 years of intelligence tests on 13,222 parents aged 50 or over in the US. They had to solve maths problems and remember a list of words read to them
Researcher Katrin Wolfova, of Columbia University in New York said: “Parents of at least one son had a faster rate of cognitive decline compared to parents without any sons.
“Results suggest effects are social rather than biological, as we observed similar trends in mothers as well as fathers.”
Writing in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, she added: “Daughters provide more social and emotional support than sons and often become informal caregivers.
