Exposure to Violence Accelerates Epigenetic Aging in Children

Abstract

Epigenetic processes, including DNA methylation, change reliably with age across the lifespan, such that DNA methylation can be used as an “epigenetic clock”. This epigenetic clock can be used to predict age and age acceleration, which occurs when methylation-based prediction of age exceeds chronological age and has been associated with increased mortality. In the current study we examined epigenetic age acceleration using saliva samples collected from children between ages 6–13 (N = 101). Children’s exposure to neighborhood violence and heart rate during a stressful task were assessed. Age acceleration was associated with children’s direct experience of violence (p = 0.004) and with decreased heart rate (p = 0.002). Children who were predicted to be older than their chronological age had twice as much violence exposure as other children and their heart rate was similar to that of adults. The results remained significant after controlling for demographic variables, such as sex, income and education. This is the first study to show the effects of direct violence exposure on epigenetic aging in children using salivary DNA. Although longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether accelerated epigenetic aging leads to adverse health outcomes later in life, these data point to DNA methylation during childhood as a putative biological mechanism.

Epigenetic aging in children from a small‐scale farming society in The Congo Basin: Associations with child growth and family conflict

“…This likely reflects that these two variables were positively correlated in this sample ( r = 0.43) and highlights that there is a need to better understand the intersections of children's growth, health, and psychosocial experiences in diverse settings (McDade et al, ). In total, our results pertaining to family social stress align with some prior studies in the U.S. and Europe showing that childhood psychosocial stress and trauma were associated with greater EAA (Jovanovic et al, ; Wolf et al, ). Complementing some recent EAA work (Brody, Miller, et al, ; Brody, Yu, et al, ; Lawn et al, ) and previous epigenetics research using epigenome‐wide (Bush et al, ; Essex et al, ; McDade et al, ) and candidate‐gene approaches (Gouin et al, ; Turecki & Meaney, ), our findings indicate that parental conflict may be a component of stressful family environments that merits further study as a correlate of accelerated epigenetic aging in children.…”

“…This likely reflects that these two variables were positively correlated in this sample (r = 0.43) and highlights that there is a need to better understand the intersections of children's growth, health, and psychosocial experiences in diverse settings (McDade et al, 2019). In total, our results pertaining to family social stress align with some prior studies in the U.S. and Europe showing that childhood psychosocial stress and trauma were associated with greater EAA (Jovanovic et al, 2017;Wolf et al, 2018).…”

“…In addition to relationships between EAA and growth under energetic constraint, it is also potentially important to understand how concurrent exposure to psychosocial and energetic stressors relates to children's EAA. Multiple studies have shown that individuals experiencing psychosocial adversity prior to adulthood exhibit greater EAA, and children's family environments may play a role in shaping these effects (Brody, Miller, Yu, Beach, & Chen, ; Javed, Chen, Lin, & Liang, ; Jovanovic et al, ; Lawn et al, ; Sumner, Colich, Uddin, Armstrong, & McLaughlin, ; Wolf et al, ). For example, research among African‐American children found that supportive family contexts were protective for children against the effects of racial discrimination on EAA (Brody, Yu, Chen, Beach, & Miller, ).…”

“…In addition to relationships between EAA and growth under energetic constraint, it is also potentially important to understand how concurrent exposure to psychosocial and energetic stressors relates to children's EAA. Multiple studies have shown that individuals experiencing psychosocial adversity prior to adulthood exhibit greater EAA, and children's family environments may play a role in shaping these effects Javed, Chen, Lin, & Liang, 2016;Jovanovic et al, 2017;Lawn et al, 2018;Sumner, Colich, Uddin, Armstrong, & McLaughlin, 2019;Wolf et al, 2018).…”

Neuroepigenetics of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

“…Future longitudinal studies that integrate neuroimaging markers with epigenome-based metrics (e.g., epigenetic aging measures from immune cells) can help advance our understanding of how life stressors build on each other to shape an individual’s immunological age and neural integrity over time. This approach would be well-suited for following at-risk children who are chronically exposed to violence 135 and assessing whether interventions (e.g., supportive family environments 136 ) reverse accelerated epigenetic aging and buffer against detrimental effects of life stressors.…”