ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2023
Social relationships and epigenetic aging in older adulthood: Results from the Health and Retirement Study.
Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed.
- Social Connection and Epigenetic Aging: Insights from DNA Methylation Clocks.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- The contribution of social and economic factors to accelerated biological aging differences between non-Hispanic Black and White adults in the Health and Retirement Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Article
- Social frailty and mortality risk in middle-aged and older adults: a prospective cohort study.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Social support and epigenetic aging at the intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender: findings from NHANES 1999-2002.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Negative social ties as emerging risk factors for accelerated aging, inflammation, and multimorbidity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Psychosocial stressors, accelerated biological aging, and multiple morbidities: Evidence from an age-diverse sample.PloS one · 2026Article
- Urban-rural disparities in living arrangement and older adults care service supply in China: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Self-worth systems in aging societies: a narrative review and conceptual framework from self-esteem to healthy longevity.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Gender differences in the association between marriage and epigenetic age.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- Relationship stress and epigenetic age acceleration among older U.S. adults in the Midlife in the United States study.Epigenomics · 2025Article
- Cumulative stress and epigenetic aging: Examining the role of psychological moderators.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Social bonds decrease epigenetic age in male bottlenose dolphins.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Social relationships and epigenetic markers of aging in middle-aged and older adults: cross-sectional and prospective analyses.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Associations of social network size and perceived level of social support with age acceleration estimated by a proteomic aging clock: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Cumulative social advantage is associated with slower epigenetic aging and lower systemic inflammation.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Remarkable concordance in associations between epigenetic clocks and health behaviors across three countries.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Psychosocial Interventions Impact on Cardiometabolic, Neurobiological, Behavioral, and Immune Outcomes in People With a Serious Mental Illness: A Systematic Review.Health science reports · 2025Review
- The Interplay Between Biological Aging and Volunteering Engagement in Predicting Cognitive Performance: Evidence From the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
- CrossFitJournal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Social relationships and immune aging in early midlife: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Growing evidence suggests that social relationship quality can influence age-related health outcomes, although how the quality of one's relationships directly relates to the underlying aging process is less clear. We hypothesized that the absence of close relationships as well as lower support and higher strain within existing relationships would be associated with an accelerated epigenetic aging profile among older adults in the Health and Retirement Study. Adults (N = 3,647) aged 50-100 years completed ratings of support and strain in relationships with their spouse, children, other family members, and friends. They also provided a blood sample that was used for DNA methylation profiling to calculate a priori-specified epigenetic aging measures: Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge, GrimAge, and Dunedin Pace of Aging methylation (DunedinPoAm38). Generalized linear models that adjusted for chronological age, sex, and race/ethnicity and applied a false discovery rate correction revealed that the absence of marital and friend relationships related to an older GrimAge and faster DunedinPoAm38. Among those with existing relationships, lower support from a spouse, child, other family, and friends and higher strain with friends related to an older PhenoAge and GrimAge and faster DunedinPoAm38. In secondary analyses that further adjusted for socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, lower support from other family members and friends was associated with greater epigenetic aging. Findings suggest that the absence of close relationships and lower support within existing relationships-particularly with family members and friends-relate to accelerated epigenetic aging in older adulthood, offering one mechanism through which social relationships might influence risk for age-related declines and disease.
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