ARE BIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF CHILDHOOD MISFORTUNE DETECTABLE DECADES LATER?. (11th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kemp, B; Ferraro, K
• Is Part Of: Innovation in aging. Volume 2(2018)Supplement 1
• Page Start: 377
• Page End: 377
• Publication Date: 2018-11-11
• Subjects: Aging -- Periodicals; Gerontology -- Periodicals; 612.67
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igy023.1402
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2399-5300

Abstract

Abstract: The importance of early insults to raise disease risk is clear, but do such early insults accelerate the fundamental process of human aging? To examine the biological mechanisms of stress and detect premature aging, researchers increasingly turn to measurable biological properties referred to as biomarkers. Informed by cumulative inequality theory, this study investigates the association between six domains of childhood misfortune—socioeconomic disadvantage, risky parental behavior, risky adolescent behavior, infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and impairments—and a biomarker of aging, telomere length. This study uses data from Wave 9 (2008) of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel survey of adults over the age of 50. Findings reveal that experiencing one risky parental behavior in childhood compared to none is associated with shorter telomeres among men. Among women, parental smoking is indirectly associated with shorter telomeres through adult smoking. In addition, women whose parent(s) abused substances had shorter telomeres. The effect of childhood misfortune also varies by race; Black women with one impairment or two or more infectious diseases have longer telomeres than Black women with no impairments or infectious diseases, respectively. Moreover, parental longevity is a useful proxy for family lineage; respondents whose mother lived at least until the age of 85 have longer telomeres, net of demographics and adult health risks and resources. Taken together, early life insults have long lasting and latent effects on the fundamental processes of aging, but mothers who live to notable ages are resources for the biological aging of their adult children.