TY - JOUR
T1 - How Does Life Course Exposure to Contextual Disadvantage Accelerate Biological Aging? The Role of Psychological Symptoms
AU - Kamis, Christina
AU - Xu, Wei
AU - Schultz, Amy
AU - Clark, Joseph
AU - Engelman, Michal
AU - Malecki, Kristen
N1 - This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH; R01 AG061080), under a grant prepared by M. Engelman and K. Malecki (co-PIs) who were responsible for conceptualizing the study and securing funding for data collection and analysis, as well as contributing to study design, interpretation of results, and drafting and editing manuscripts. K. Malecki was also the PI of SHOW at the time of data collection. This work was also supported by additional funding from the NIA (T32 AG00129 and P30 AG017266), awarded to the Center for Demography of Health and Aging (CDHA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Funding for the Survey of Health and Wisconsin (SHOW) was provided by the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) Part- nership Education and Research Committee (PERC) Award (Grant #’s: 5139, 444, 2971, 2309, 1686, 658). The authors would also like to thank the University of Wisconsin Survey Center, the SHOW administrative, field, and scientific staff, as well as all the SHOW participants for their contributions to this study. We especially thank Andy Bersch and Noah Stafford for their assistance in data curation.
PY - 2025/12/1
Y1 - 2025/12/1
N2 - Objectives Recent research has found that life course exposure to contextual socioeconomic disadvantage may accelerate biological aging, providing key insight into an upstream driver of health disparities. However, questions about the intervening mechanisms remain. We examine the role of psychological symptoms in the direct and indirect relationships between cumulative neighborhood disadvantage and accelerated biological aging. Methods We leverage the Researching Epigenetic, Weathering, Aging, & Neighborhood Disadvantage (REWARD) Study, a subsample of the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) (2008–2019) that includes an assessment of cumulative neighborhood disadvantage based on long-term residential histories and three blood-based epigenetic clocks (i.e., GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DunedinPACE). We use path analysis to assess the direct and indirect relationship of cumulative neighborhood disadvantage and accelerated biological aging through psychological symptoms measured as overall distress and disaggregated as depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Results Cumulative neighborhood disadvantage is associated with epigenetic age acceleration directly and indirectly via overall psychological distress, with 10–13% of the neighborhood disadvantage effects mediated by increased distress across the aging clocks. Anxiety appears as a significant mediating factor for some clocks (most notably GrimAge and DunedinPACE). Discussion Contextual disadvantage is an important social determinant of health that operates throughout the life course and may lead to disparities in healthy aging through psychological symptoms.
AB - Objectives Recent research has found that life course exposure to contextual socioeconomic disadvantage may accelerate biological aging, providing key insight into an upstream driver of health disparities. However, questions about the intervening mechanisms remain. We examine the role of psychological symptoms in the direct and indirect relationships between cumulative neighborhood disadvantage and accelerated biological aging. Methods We leverage the Researching Epigenetic, Weathering, Aging, & Neighborhood Disadvantage (REWARD) Study, a subsample of the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) (2008–2019) that includes an assessment of cumulative neighborhood disadvantage based on long-term residential histories and three blood-based epigenetic clocks (i.e., GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DunedinPACE). We use path analysis to assess the direct and indirect relationship of cumulative neighborhood disadvantage and accelerated biological aging through psychological symptoms measured as overall distress and disaggregated as depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Results Cumulative neighborhood disadvantage is associated with epigenetic age acceleration directly and indirectly via overall psychological distress, with 10–13% of the neighborhood disadvantage effects mediated by increased distress across the aging clocks. Anxiety appears as a significant mediating factor for some clocks (most notably GrimAge and DunedinPACE). Discussion Contextual disadvantage is an important social determinant of health that operates throughout the life course and may lead to disparities in healthy aging through psychological symptoms.
KW - Epigenetic age acceleration
KW - Life course models
KW - Mental health
KW - Neighborhoods
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022806848
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022806848#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbaf206
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbaf206
M3 - Article
C2 - 41124018
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 80
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 12
M1 - gbaf206
ER -