Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health and epigenetic biological aging across childhood and adolescence
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Marginalization due to structural racism may confer an increased risk for aging-related diseases - in part - via effects on people's mental health. Here we leverage a prospective birth cohort study to examine whether the emergence of racial disparities in mental health and DNA-methylation measures of biological aging (i.e., DunedinPACE, GrimAge Acceleration, PhenoAge Acceleration) are linked across childhood and adolescence. We further consider to what extent racial disparities are statistically accounted for by perinatal and postnatal factors in preregistered analyses of 4898 participants from the Future of Families & Child Wellbeing Study, of which 2039 had repeated saliva DNA methylation at ages 9 and 15 years. We find that racially marginalized children had higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors and diverging longitudinal internalizing slopes. Black compared to White identifying children, children living in more racially segregated neighborhoods, and racially marginalized children more affected by colorism tended to have higher age-9 levels of biological aging and more biological age acceleration over adolescence. Notably, longitudinal increases in internalizing and externalizing behavior were correlated with increases in biological aging. While racial and ethnic disparities in mental health were largely statistically accounted for by socioeconomic variables, differences in biological aging were often still visible after including potential mediating variables. These findings underscore the urgency for future research to consider biological aging processes from early life and collect more comprehensive measures of structural racism in developmental cohorts. Programs dedicated to advancing racial health equity must address the psychological and physical effects of structural racism on children and adolescents.
Source: Molecular Psychiatry
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,490
Funders: Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology, European Commission, Jacobs Foundation, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Universität Zürich, Freie Universität Berlin, Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, National Institutes of Health, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Awards: G1367495746, G1416717560, G163940091, Epigenetic Pathways of Socioeconomic Disparities in Physical and Cognitive Health Across the Lifespan, G2450394595, G3163438954, G3650261931, G515206255, Epigenetic Pathways of Socioeconomic Disparities across the lifespan, Effects of poverty on affective development: A multi-level, longitudinal study, Epigenetic Mediation of Adverse Social Context on Stress Response, Socioemotional Development, and Health in a Population-based Study of Minority and Low SES Children and Adolescents, G74921401, G8192881174, G8739729482, G9000159272, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing - Young Adulthood
OpenAlex ID: W4409286421