Objectives: The recent biological clocks GrimAge and PoAm are robust predictors of morbidity and mortality. Little research, however, has investigated the factors that influence their ticking speed. No study has used multivariate analyses to examine whether childhood adversity, adult hardship, lifestyle practices, or some combination of these factors best explains acceleration of these indices. Methods: Using a sample of 506 middle-age African Americans, the present study investigated the extent to which childhood instability, adult adversity, and lifestyle predict accelerated GrimAge and PoAm. Results: The two clocks were highly correlated and the pattern of findings was very similar for the two measures. Childhood instability, adult financial hardship, and smoking were significant predictors of both clocks. Discussion: The findings support a life course perspective where both the long arm of childhood as well as later life conditions influence speed of aging. Similar results across the two clocks enhance confidence in the findings.
AronowP. M.SamiiC.AssenovaV. A. (2015). Cluster-robust variance estimation for dyadic data. Political Analysis, 23(4), 564-577.
3.
BaldwinJ. R.ReubenA.NewburyJ. B.DaneseA. (2019). Agreement between prospective and retrospective measures of childhood maltreatment. JAMA Psychiatry, 76(6), 584-593. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0097.
4.
BellC. G.LoweR.AdamsBaccarelliP. D. A. A.BaccarelliA. A.BeckS. V.K.BellJ. T.ChristensenB. C.GladyshevV. NHeijmansB. T.HorvathS.IdekerT.IssaJ. J.KelseyK. T.MarioniR. E.ReikW.ReltonC. L.SchalkwykL. C.TeschendorffA. E.WagnerW.RakyanV. K. (2019). DNA methylation aging clocks: Challenges and recommendations. Genome Biology, 20(1), 249-324. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-019-1824-y.
5.
BelskyD. W.CaspiA.ArseneaultL.BaccarelliA.CorcoranD. L.GaoX.HannonE.HarringtonH. LRasmussenL. JHoutsR.HuffmanK.KrausW. E.KwonD.MillJ.PieperC. F.PrinzJ. A.PoultonR.SchwartzJ.SugdenK.MoffittT. E. (2020). Quantification of the pace of biological aging in humans through a blood test, the DunedinPoAm DNA methylation algorithm. ELife, 9, e54870. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54870.
6.
BelskyD. W.CaspiA.HoutsR.CohenH. J.CorcoranD. L.DaneseA.HarringtonH.IsraelS.LevineM. E.SchaeferJ. D.SugdenK.WilliamsB.YashinA. I.PoultonR.MoffittT. E. (2015). Quantification of biological aging in young adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(30), E4104-E4110. Retrieved April 13, 2021, fromhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/26464233.
7.
BergM. T.LeiM.-K.BeachS. R.SimonsR. L.SimonsL. G. (2020). Childhood adversities as determinants of cardiovascular disease risk and perceived illness burden in adulthood: Comparing retrospective and prospective self-report measures in a longitudinal sample of African Americans. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49(6), 1292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01207-z.
8.
BrodyG. H.MillerG. E.YuT.BeachS. R. H.ChenE. (2016). Supportive family environments ameliorate the link between racial discrimination and epigenetic aging: A replication across two longitudinal cohorts. Psychological Science, 27(4), 530-541. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615626703.
CharlesS. T.HongJ. (2016). Theories of emotional well-being and aging. In BengstenV. L.SetterstenR. A. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of aging (pp. 193-212). Springer.
11.
ChenB. H.MarioniR. E.ColicinoE.PetersM. J.Ward-CavinessC. K.TsaiP.-C.RoetkerN. S.JustA. C.DemerathE. W.GuanW.BresslerJ.FornageM.StudenskiS.VandiverA. R.MooreA. Z.TanakaT.KielD. P.LiangL.VokonasP.HorvathS. (2016). DNA methylation-based measures of biological age: Meta-analysis predicting time to death. Aging, 8(9), 1844-1865. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101020
12.
CongerR. D.ElderG. H.LorenzF. O.SimonsR. L.WhitbeckL. B. (1994). Families in troubledtimes adapting to change in rural America. Aldine de Gruyter.
13.
CongerR.D.CongerK.J.MartinM.J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family processes, and individual development. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 685-704.
14.
CrimminsE. M.ThyagarajanB.LevineM. E.WeirD. R.FaulJ. (2021). Associations of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and education with 13 epigenetic clocks in a nationally representative U.S. sample: The Health and Retirement Study. Journal of Gerontology: A Biological and Medical Science, 76(6), 1117-1123. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glab061.
15.
GeronimusA. T.HickenM.KeeneD.BoundJ. (2006). “Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States). “Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 96(5), 826-833. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2004.060749.
16.
GibbonsF. X.GerrardM.ClevelandM.J.WillsT.A.BrodyG.H. (2004). Perceived discrimination and substance use in African American parents and their children: A panel study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 517-529.
17.
GruenewaldT. L.CohenS.MatthewsK. A.TracyR.SeemanT. E. (2009). Association of socioeconomic status with inflammation markers in black and white men and women in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Social Science & Medicine, 69(3), 451-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.05.018.
18.
GruenewaldT. L.KarlamanglaA. S.HuP.Stein-MerkinS.CrandallC.KoretzB.SeemanT. E. (2012). History of socioeconomic disadvantage and allostatic load in later life. Social Science & Medicine, 74(1), 75-83.
19.
HannumG.GuinneyJ.ZhaoL.ZhangL.HughesG.SaddaS.KlotzleB.BibikovaM.FanJ.-B.GaoY.DecondeR.ChenM.RajapakseI.FriendS.IdekerT.ZhangK. (2013). Genome-wide methylation profiles reveal quantitative views of human aging rates. Molecular Cell, 49(2), 359-367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2012.10.016.
20.
HarrisK. M.SchorppK. M. (2018). Integrating biomarkers in social stratification and health research. Annual Review of Sociology, 44, 361-386.
21.
HillaryR. F.StevensonA. J.McCartneyD. L.CampbellA.WalkerR. M.HowardD. M.RitchieC. W.HorvathS.HaywardC.McIntoshA. M.PorteousD. J.DearyI. J.EvansK. L.MarioniR. E. (2020). Epigenetic measures of ageing predict the prevalence and incidence of leading causes of death and disease burden. Clinical Epigenetics, 12(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-020-00905-6.
KochC. M.WagnerW. (2011). Epigenetic-aging-signature to determine age in different tissues. Aging, 3(10), 1018-1027.
27.
LeiM.-K.SimonsR. L.BeachS. R. H.PhilibertR. A. (2019). Neighborhood disadvantage and biological aging: Using marginal structural models to assess the link between neighborhood census variables and epigenetic aging. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 74(7), e50-e59. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbx015.
28.
LimE.GandhiK.DavisJ.ChenJ. J. (2018). Prevalence of chronic conditions and prevalence of chronic conditions and multimorbidities in a geographically defined geriatric population with diverse races and ethnicities. Journal of Aging and Health, 30(3), 421-444.
29.
LiX.PlonerA.WangY.MagnussonP. K.ReynoldsC.FinkelD.PedersenN. L.JylhäväJ.HäggS. (2020). Longitudinal trajectories, correlations and mortality associations of nine biological ages across 20-years follow-up. ELife, 9, e51507. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.51507
MarioniR. E.ShahS.McRaeA. F.ChenB. H.ColicinoE.HarrisS. E.GibsonJ.HendersA. K.RedmondP.CoxS. R.PattieA.CorleyJ.MurphyL.MartinN. G.MontgomeryG. W.FeinbergA. P.FallinM. D.MulthaupM. L.JaffeA. E.DearyI. J. (2015). DNA methylation age of blood predicts all-cause mortality in later life. Genome Biology, 16, 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-015-0584-6
32.
MarmotM. (2015). The health gap: The challenges of an unequal world. Bloomsbury Press.
33.
MasseyD. S. (2007). Categorically unequal: The American stratification system. Russell Sage Foundation.
34.
McCroryC.FioritoG.HernandezB.PolidoroS.O’HalloranA. M.HeverA.Ni CheallaighC.LuA. T.HorvathS.VineisP.KennyR. A. (2020). GrimAge outperforms other epigenetic clocks in the prediction of age-related clinical phenotypes and all-cause mortality. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 76, 741-749. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glaa286.
35.
MillerG. E.ChenE.ParkerK. J. (2011). Psychological stress in childhood and susceptibility to the chronic diseases of aging: Moving toward a model of behavioral and biological mechanisms. Psychological Bulletin, 137(6), 959-997. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024768.
36.
MoffittT. E.. (2020). Behavioral and social research to accelerate the geroscience translation agenda. Ageing Research Reviews, 63, 101146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2020.101146.
37.
MuthenL. K.MuthenB. O. (2018). Mplus version 7.04: Base program and combination add- on. Muthen & Muthen.
38.
PearlinL. I.SchiemanS.FazioE. M.MeersmanS. C. (2005). Stress, health, and the life course: Some conceptual perspectives. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46(2), 205-219. Retrieved April 13, 2021, fromhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4150398.
39.
ReubenA.SchaeferJ. D.MoffittT. E.BroadbentJ.HarringtonH.HoutsR. M.RamrakhaS.PoultonR.CaspiA. (2019). Association of childhood lead exposure with adult personality traits and lifelong mental health. JAMA Psychiatry, 76(4), 418-425.
40.
RickardI.J.LummaaV. (2007). The predictive adaptive response and metabolic syndrome: challenges for the hypothesis. Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism, 18, 94-99.
41.
RyanC. P. (2020). “Epigenetic clocks”: Theory and applications in human biology. American Journal of Human Biology, 33(4), e23488. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23488.
42.
SidiY.HrelO.2018. The treatment of incomplete data: Reporting, analysis, reproducibility, and replicability. Social Science and Medicine, 209, 169-173.
43.
SimonsR.L.LeiM-K.BeachS.R.H.BrodyG.H.PhilibertR.A.GibbonsF.X. (2011). Social environment, genes, and aggression: Evidence supporting the differential susceptibility perspective. American Sociological Review76, 883-912
44.
SimonsR. L.LeiM. K.BeachS. R. H.PhilibertR. A.CutronaC. E.GibbonsF. X.BarrA. (2016). Economic hardship and biological weathering: The epigenetics of aging in a U.S. sample of black women. Social Science & Medicine, 150, 192-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.12.001.
45.
SimonsR. L.LeiM.-K.KlopackE.BeachS. R. H.GibbonsF. X.PhilibertR. A. (2020). The effects of social adversity, discrimination, and health risk behaviors on the accelerated aging of African Americans: Further support for the weathering hypothesis. Social Science & Medicine, 288, 113169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113169.
46.
SlopenN.ShonkoffJ. P.AlbertM. A.YoshikawaH.JacobsA.StoltzR.WilliamsD. R. (2016). Racial disparities in child adversity in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 50(1), 47-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.06.013.
47.
UmbersonD.WilliamsK.ThomasP.A.LiuH.ThomeerM.B. (2014). Race, gender, changes of disadvantage: childhood adversity, social relationships, and health. Journal of Health Social Behavior, 55, 20-38.
48.
WeidnerC.I.WagnerW. (2014). The epigenetic tracks of aging. Biological Chemistry, 395, 1307-1314.
49.
WilliamsD.R,2012. Miles to Go Before We Sleep: Racial Inequities in Health. Journal of Health & Social Behavior, 53, 279-295
50.
WilsonW. J. (2009). More than just race: Being black and poor in the inner city. W.W Norton & Company.
51.
YancuraL. A.AldwinC. M. (2009). Stability and change in retrospective reports of childhood experiences over a 5-year period: Findings from the Davis Longitudinal Study. Psychology and Aging, 24(3), 715-721.
52.
YangY. C.GerkenK.SchorppK.BoenC.HarrisK. M. (2017). Early-life socioeconomic status and adult physiological functioning: A life course examination of biosocial mechanisms. Biodemography and Social Biology, 63(2), 87-103. https://doi.org/10.1080/19485565.2017.1279536.
53.
ZannasA. S.ArlothJ.Carrillo-RoaT.IuratoS.RöhS.ResslerK. J.NemeroffC. B.SmithA. K.BradleyB.HeimC.MenkeA.LangeJ. F.BrücklT.IsingM.WrayN. R.ErhardtA.BinderE. B.MehtaD. (2015). Lifetime stress accelerates epigenetic aging in an urban, African American cohort: Relevance of glucocorticoid signaling. Genome Biology, 16, 266. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-015-0828-5
54.
ZhaoW.AmmousF.RatliffS.LiuJ.YuM.MosleyT. H.KardiaS. L. R.SmithJ. A (2019). Education and lifestyle factors are associated with DNA methylation clocks in older African Americans. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(17), 3141. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16173141.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
