Neighborhood Disadvantage and Parenting in Early Adolescence Predict Epigenetic Aging and Mortality Risk in Adulthood.

Youth who grow up in disadvantaged neighborhoods experience poorer health later in life, but little is known about the biological mechanisms underlying these effects and socioenvironmental factors that may protect youth from the biological embedding of neighborhood adversity. This study tests whether supportive and consistent parenting buffers associations between neighborhood disadvantage in early adolescence and epigenetic aging in adulthood. A community sample from Birmingham, Alabama, USA (N = 343; 57% female; 81% Black, 19% White) was assessed in early adolescence (T1; ages 11 and 13) and adulthood (T2; age 27). At T1, neighborhood poverty was derived from census data and neighborhood disorder was reported by caregivers. Both youth and parents reported on parental discipline and nurturance. At T2, methylation of salivary DNA was used to derive a mortality risk index and Hannum, Horvath, PhenoAge, and GrimAge epigenetic age estimators. Regression analyses revealed that neighborhood disadvantage was associated with accelerated epigenetic aging and/or mortality risk only when combined with high levels of harsh and inconsistent discipline and low child-reported parental nurturance. These findings identify epigenetic aging and mortality risk as relevant mechanisms through which neighborhood adversity experienced in adolescence may affect later health; they also point to the importance of supportive and consistent parenting for reducing the biological embedding of neighborhood adversity in early adolescence.