TY - JOUR
T1 - Low childhood subjective social status and telomere length in adulthood
T2 - The role of attachment orientations
AU - Murdock, Kyle W.
AU - Seiler, Annina
AU - Chirinos Medina, Diana Andrea
AU - Garcini, Luz M.
AU - Acebo, Sally L.
AU - Cohen, Sheldon
AU - Fagundes, Christopher P.
N1 - Funding Information:
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Grant number: AT006694; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Grant number: F32HL131353 HL65111 HL65112 R01HL127260; National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Grant number: R01 AI066367; National Institutes of Health, Grant numbers: UL1 RR024153, UL1 RT000005
Funding Information:
The data used for this article were collected by the Laboratory for the Study of Stress, Immunity, and Disease at Carnegie Mellon University under the directorship of Sheldon Cohen, PhD; and were accessed via the Common Cold Project (CCP) website (www.commoncoldproject. com). CCP data are made publically available through a grant from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (AT006694); the conduct of the studies was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL65111; HL65112) and National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01 AI066367); secondary support was provided by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UL1 RR024153 and UL1 RT000005); and supplemental support was provided by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status & Health. Preparation of the manuscript was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL127260; F32HL131353).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - Low subjective social status (SSS) in childhood places one at greater risk of a number of health problems in adulthood. Theoretical and empirical evidence indicates that exposure to supportive parenting may buffer the negative effects of low childhood SSS on adult health. Given the importance of supportive caregivers and close others for the development of attachment orientations throughout the lifespan, attachment theory may be important for understanding why some individuals are resilient to the negative effects of low childhood SSS on adult health while others are not. We examined if attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance altered the association between childhood subjective social status (SSS) and length of telomeres in white blood cells in adulthood. Shorter telomere length is associated with increased risk of age-related diseases including cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Participants (N = 128) completed self-report measures of childhood SSS and attachment orientations, as well as a blood draw. We found that among those with low childhood SSS, low attachment anxiety was associated with longer telomere length in white blood cells in comparison to high attachment anxiety controlling for participant age, sex, race, body mass index, and adult SSS. Among those with high childhood SSS, low attachment anxiety was associated with a slight decrease in telomere length. Attachment avoidance was unrelated to length of telomeres. Such findings provide further evidence for the role that close relationships may have on buffering SSS related health disparities.
AB - Low subjective social status (SSS) in childhood places one at greater risk of a number of health problems in adulthood. Theoretical and empirical evidence indicates that exposure to supportive parenting may buffer the negative effects of low childhood SSS on adult health. Given the importance of supportive caregivers and close others for the development of attachment orientations throughout the lifespan, attachment theory may be important for understanding why some individuals are resilient to the negative effects of low childhood SSS on adult health while others are not. We examined if attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance altered the association between childhood subjective social status (SSS) and length of telomeres in white blood cells in adulthood. Shorter telomere length is associated with increased risk of age-related diseases including cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Participants (N = 128) completed self-report measures of childhood SSS and attachment orientations, as well as a blood draw. We found that among those with low childhood SSS, low attachment anxiety was associated with longer telomere length in white blood cells in comparison to high attachment anxiety controlling for participant age, sex, race, body mass index, and adult SSS. Among those with high childhood SSS, low attachment anxiety was associated with a slight decrease in telomere length. Attachment avoidance was unrelated to length of telomeres. Such findings provide further evidence for the role that close relationships may have on buffering SSS related health disparities.
KW - attachment orientations
KW - childhood
KW - close relationships
KW - subjective social status
KW - telomere length
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U2 - 10.1002/dev.21601
DO - 10.1002/dev.21601
M3 - Article
C2 - 29451299
AN - SCOPUS:85044431960
SN - 0012-1630
VL - 60
SP - 340
EP - 346
JO - Developmental Psychobiology
JF - Developmental Psychobiology
IS - 3
ER -
