Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, 1095 College Station Road, Athens 30602-4527, GA, USA.
Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA; Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021 Aug;130:105256. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105256. Epub 2021 May 14.
A scientific consensus is emerging that children reared in risky family climates are prone to chronic diseases and premature death later in life. Few prospective data, however, are available to inform the mechanisms of these relationships. In a prospective study involving 323 Black families, we sought to determine whether, and how, childhood risky family climates are linked to a potential risk factor for later-life disease: increases in cellular aging (indexed by epigenetic aging). As hypothesized, risky family climates were associated with greater outflows of the stress hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine at ages 19 and 20 years; this, in turn, led to increases in cellular aging across ages 20-27 years. If sustained, these tendencies may place children from risky family climates on a trajectory toward the chronic diseases of aging.
一个科学共识正在形成，即成长在充满风险的家庭环境中的儿童更容易患上慢性疾病，并在以后的生活中过早死亡。然而，几乎没有前瞻性数据可以说明这些关系的机制。在一项涉及 323 个黑人家庭的前瞻性研究中，我们试图确定儿童时期充满风险的家庭环境是否以及如何与晚年疾病的一个潜在风险因素有关：细胞衰老的增加（由表观遗传衰老指标）。正如假设的那样，充满风险的家庭环境与 19 岁和 20 岁时应激激素肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素的外流增加有关；这反过来又导致 20-27 岁之间的细胞衰老增加。如果持续下去，这些趋势可能会使来自充满风险家庭环境的儿童走上衰老相关慢性疾病的轨迹。
