ArticleHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2025
Maternal childhood adversity accelerates epigenetic aging of children.
Elissa J Hamlat, Stefanie E Mayer, Barbara Laraia, Terrie E Moffitt, Agus Surachman, Ethan G Dutcher, Joshua Zhang, Ake T Lu, Tony T Yang, Meital Mashash and 2 more
Article in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
2 · The registry
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
5 · Who and what money
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Elissa J HamlatUniversity of California-San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.ORCID 0000-0001-7339-8222
Stefanie E MayerUniversity of California-San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Barbara LaraiaUniversity of California-Berkeley, School of Public Health.
Terrie E MoffittDuke University, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.
Agus SurachmanDrexel University, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.ORCID 0000-0001-7474-9450
Ethan G DutcherUniversity of California-San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Joshua ZhangUniversity of California-Los Angeles, Department of Human Genetics.
Ake T LuUniversity of California-Los Angeles, Department of Human Genetics.
Tony T YangUniversity of California-San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Meital MashashUniversity of California-San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
George M SlavichUniversity of California-Los Angeles, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.
Elissa S EpelUniversity of California-San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Funding
Catalyzing Systemic Change at Drexel University to Support Diverse Faculty in Health Disparities Research - Administrative SupplementU54CA267735 · NCI · DREXEL UNIVERSITY · PI KAIMAL, GIRIJA · 2021 to 2024
$14.2M
Training Researchers in Clinical Integrative Medicine (TRIM) - NOSI supplementT32AT003997 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI SHELLEY R ADLER, MARIA T CHAO · 2007 to 2026
$6.6M
Early Life Adversity, Cumulative Life Stress, and Cellular Aging in Midlife Women and OffspringRF1AG094985 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI EPEL, ELISSA S., LARAIA, BARBARA A · 2025 to 2025
$3.3M
Race, Stress and Dysregulated Eating: Maternal to Child Transmission of ObesityR01HD073568 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI EPEL, ELISSA S., LARAIA, BARBARA A · 2014 to 2018
$2.6M
Early Life Adversity, Cumulative Life Stress, Race, and Cellular Aging in Midlife Women and OffspringR01AG059677 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI EPEL, ELISSA S., LARAIA, BARBARA A · 2019 to 2021
$1.7M
Training the Next Generation of Psychiatrists-Scientists for Translational ResearchR25MH129256 · NIMH · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · PI ANTONIA S NEW, Maria De Las Mercedes Perez Rodriguez · 2023 to 2026
$831k
Understanding and Reversing the Effects of Early Life Adversity on Midlife Health: Improving Daily Psychological Stress Responses using an Ecological Momentary InterventionR00AG062778 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI MAYER, STEFANIE EVA · 2021 to 2023
$747k
Early Life Adversity, Cumulative Life Stress, Race, and Cellular Aging in Midlife Women and OffspringR56AG059677 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI EPEL, ELISSA S., LARAIA, BARBARA A · 2018 to 2018
$690k
California Governor's Office of Planning and Research/California Initiative to Advance Precision MedicineLisa Stone Pritzker Family FoundationNational Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentNCCIH NIH HHS T32 AT003997NCI NIH HHS U54 CA267735NIA NIH HHS R00 AG062778NIA NIH HHS R01 AG059677NIA NIH HHS R56 AG059677NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG094985NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD073568NIMH NIH HHS R25 MH129256University of California, San Francisco
6 · The paper itself
Abstract
objectiveAlthough early adversity is strongly related to lifelong health disparities, it is unclear how adversity might confer risk across generations. To investigate, we tested the hypothesis that mothers' childhood adversity was associated with their epigenetic aging and that of their children and examined whether associations differed for Black and White mothers.
methodDyads (N = 215) of mothers (52% White, 48% Black, Mage = 39.2, SD = 1.1) and children (N = 215, 55% female, Mage = 8.3, SD = 4.0, range 2-17) provided saliva samples to assay the Horvath clock and pace of aging calculated from the epigenome epigenetic aging measures. Linear regressions were used to estimate the associations of maternal early adversity measures with the outcomes of maternal and child Horvath clock epigenetic age, as moderated by race.
resultsFor Black, but not White mothers, any abuse before age 13, b = 0.81, p = .007, physical abuse before age 18, b = 1.69, p = .001, and sexual abuse before age 18, b = 1.17, p = .02, were associated with significantly greater Horvath age acceleration in their children. In contrast, there was no relation between maternal childhood adversity and mothers' epigenetic aging, and no significant findings for the pace of aging calculated from the epigenome.
conclusionsMaternal childhood adversity appears to have a greater effect on the epigenetic aging of the children of Black mothers. The effects of systemic racism on Black Americans may interact with maternal childhood adversity to confer additional risk for Black children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Indexed as
Adverse Childhood ExperiencesAgingEpigenesis, GeneticMothersAdolescentAdultBlack or African AmericanChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMother-Child RelationsSalivaWhite
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.
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