Poverty, Material Hardship, and Telomere Length Among Latina/o Children

Abstract

Background Despite increased attention on the links between poverty and the health and wellbeing of youth, few have attempted to understand the physiological consequences associated with different forms of economic disadvantage among Latina/o children. The present study begins to address this gap by (1) examining whether different forms of economic disadvantage were related to telomere length for Latina/o children and (2) determining whether parents' nativity shapes economic disadvantagetelomere length relationships. Methods Data were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal, stratified multistage probability sample of couples and children in 20 large US cities. The sample consisted of 417 Latina/o children and their parents that were followed from birth to age 9. Ordinary least squares regressions were used to examine relationships between economic disadvantage and telomere length. Results Findings revealed that poverty status was not significantly related to telomere length, whereas some forms of material hardship were shown to play a role in the risk of premature cellular aging. More specifically, medical hardship and difficulty paying bills were associated with shorter telomere length at age 9. Results also provide minimal evidence economic disadvantage-telomere length patterns varied by parents' nativity. Only medical hardship was related to shorter telomere length at age 9 for children with at least one foreign-born parent. Conclusion Overall, results indicate that the risk of premature cellular aging depends on the measure of economic disadvantage under investigation. Findings from this study can inform targeted strategies designed to reduce the deleterious consequences associated with economic deprivation.

Acculturative stress, telomere length, and postpartum depression in Latinx mothers

“…Despite a wealth of previous research documenting associations between sociodemographic factors and TL across various populations (e.g., Aguayo et al, 2021;Chae et al, 2020;Cherkas et al, 2006;Diez Roux et al, 2009;Entringer et al, 2012Entringer et al, , 2011Flannagan et al, 2017;Geronimus et al, 2015;Hoxha et al, 2009;Ly et al, 2019;Needham et al, 2019Needham et al, , 2017Niño, 2021;Ruiz et al, 2017;Shiels et al, 2011;Yen and Lung, 2013), we did not find evidence of these relationships in this study. It is possible that this is due to relatively little variability in these characteristics among our participants.…”

“…Among those mothers with greater acculturation to the United States, TL was negatively associated with body fat percentage, suggesting an integrated role of psychosocial stress and TL in maternal obesity risk (Aguayo et al, 2021). In a sample of economically disadvantaged Latinx children across the United States (n = 417), exposure to material hardships, specifically medical and financial difficulties, was significantly related to shorter TL (Niño, 2021).…”