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1. High-Frequency Heart Rate Variability and Emotion-Driven Impulse Control Difficulties During Adolescence: Examining Experienced and Expressed Negative Emotion as Moderators

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431620983453  

   Gonçalves, Stefanie F. ; Chaplin, Tara M. ; López, Roberto ; Regalario, Irene M. ; Niehaus, Claire E. ; McKnight, Patrick E. ; Stults-Kolehmainen, Matthew ; Sinha, Rajita ; Ansell, Emily B. ( January 2020 , The Journal of Early Adolescence)

   null (Ed.)

   Emotion-driven impulse control difficulties are associated with negative psychological outcomes. Extant research suggests that high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) may be indicative of emotion-driven impulse control difficulties and potentially moderated by negative emotion. In the current study, 248 eleven- to 14-year-olds and their parent engaged in a negatively emotionally arousing conflict task at Time 1. Adolescents’ HF-HRV and negative emotional expression and experience were assessed before, during, and/or after the task. Adolescents reported on their levels of emotion-driven impulse control difficulties at Time 1 and one year later. Results revealed that higher levels of HF-HRV reactivity (i.e., higher HF-HRV augmentation) predicted higher levels of emotion-driven impulse control difficulties 1 year later among adolescents who experienced higher negative emotion. These findings suggest that negative emotional context should be considered when examining HF-HRV reactivity as a risk factor for emotion-driven impulse control difficulties and associated outcomes. 

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2. Exploring the effects of weaning age on adult infectious disease mortality among 18th–19th century Italians

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23864  

   Smith, April K. ; Reitsema, Laurie J. ; Fornaciari, Antonio ; Sineo, Luca ( January 2023 , American Journal of Human Biology)

   The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) hypothesis describes how early childhood stress affects morbidity and mortality later in life. The role of early childhood stress in mortality from infectious disease is understudied. Stressors in early childhood that weaken the immune system may result in increased susceptibility to infectious disease in adulthood. Weaning is one of the earliest potential periods of significant stress in early childhood. This research investigates the effect of weaning after ~6 months of age on cholera mortality among 18th–19th‐century Italian populations by determining if earlier breastfeeding cessation is associated with earlier mortality, analyzing childhood dietary variation and physiological stress markers, and determining if age‐at‐weaning completion differs between catastrophic and attritional populations.

   Serial dentin stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses from canines are compared between catastrophic (n = 45) and attritional groups (n = 23). Canines are sectioned serially from crown to apex, and the increment's δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C are used to estimate age‐at‐weaning completion.

   Catastrophic and attritional groups exhibit similar age‐at‐weaning completion (~2.8 years). Seventy‐four percent of individuals lack elevated δ¹⁵N values in dentin that formed during infancy.

   Age‐at‐weaning completion was not a predisposing factor in cholera mortality in adulthood in this sample. Age‐at‐weaning completion may not be significantly associated with infectious disease mortality because weaning completion likely occurred after infants had adapted to consuming contaminated weanling foods. Individuals without detectable weaning curves may represent infants who received supplementary foods since birth or were weaned before the age of 6–9 months.

    

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3. Familial Abuse During Childhood and Later-Life Health: Exploring the Role of Victim–Perpetrator Relationships

   https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae065  

   Lee, Chioun ; Park, Soojin ; Lee, Juha ; Kelley, ed., Jessica_A ( April 2024 , The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences)

   Childhood abuse has been extensively studied in relation to later-life health, yet relatively little attention has been given to understanding the nuanced dynamics across victim–perpetrator relationships. This study addresses this gap by identifying typologies of familial perpetrators of childhood abuse in a national sample and examining their associations with various health outcomes, including physical and mental health as well as substance abuse.

   We used 2 waves of data from the Midlife in the US Study (n = 6,295, mean age = 46.9 at baseline). The analysis was completed in 3 stages. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), we identified subpopulations of victims with distinct familial perpetrator histories. With assigned LCA memberships and propensity score weighting, we investigated the extent to which specific victim–perpetrator relationships are associated with health outcomes measured at baseline and a 10-year follow-up adjusting for other early-life risks. We evaluated whether the observed associations differ across the waves.

   Parental and sibling abuse commonly co-occur, surpassing the occurrence of single perpetrators. Although minimal health disparities are evident between sibling-only abuse and no/little abuse groups at baseline, parent-only abuse is associated with compromised health outcomes. Severe abuse from both siblings and parents is linked to the most adverse health outcomes. At the follow-up survey, the associations between familiar abuse and health outcomes weakened, particularly for substance abuse.

   This study, delving into family relationships, family violence, and health disparities, provides new evidence to augment our comprehension of the enduring link between childhood abuse and health within the family context.

    

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4. Childhood adversity and adolescent epigenetic age acceleration: the role of adolescent sleep health

   https://doi.org/10.1093/sleepadvances/zpaf003  

   DiMarzio, Karissa ; Rojo-Wissar, Darlynn_M ; Hernandez_Valencia, Evelyn ; Ver_Pault, Mikayla ; Denherder, Shane ; Lopez, Adamari ; Lerch, Jena ; Metrailer, Georgette ; Merrill, Sarah ; Highlander, April ; et al ( January 2025 , Sleep Advances)

   We investigated how a dimension of early life adversity (ELA), capturing threat in the home, relates to later epigenetic age acceleration in adolescence through sleep (duration, efficiency, and timing) to empirically test theoretical models suggesting the importance of sleep as a key mechanism linking ELA with poor health outcomes and to expand the limited literature on sleep and epigenetic aging among youth.

   We utilized data from 861 participants in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study who participated in the actigraphy substudy at age 15. Sleep variables used were average total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), and sleep onset timing. Home threat was determined at ages 3, 5, and 9 from parent reports on the Child Conflict Tactics Scale, and epigenetic aging was measured through DNA methylation analyses of saliva samples collected at age 15.

   Higher levels of childhood home threat exposure were associated with less adolescent TST, lower SE, and later sleep onset timing. Adolescent SE and timing were associated with a faster pace of aging and epigenetic age acceleration. SE and timing mediated the link between childhood home threat exposure and adolescent epigenetic aging.

   Epigenetic embedding of childhood threat exposure in the home may occur through adversity-related sleep disturbances in adolescence. Findings warrant greater attention to pediatric sleep health in theoretical models of biological embedding of adversity and point to sleep health improvement as a potential way to prevent adversity-related epigenetic age acceleration. This paper is part of the Genetic and other Molecular Underpinnings of Sleep, Sleep Disorders, and Circadian Rhythms Including Translational Approaches collection.

    

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5. Low birthweight is associated with epigenetic age acceleration in the first 3 years of life

   https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoad019  

   Quinn, Edward B. ; Hsiao, Chu J. ; Maisha, Felicien M. ; Mulligan, Connie J. ( June 2023 , Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health)

   The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis posits that early life adversity is associated with poor adult health outcomes. Epidemiological evidence has supported this framework by linking low birthweight with adult health and mortality, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Accelerated epigenetic aging may be a pathway to connect early life experiences with adult health outcomes, based on associations of accelerated epigenetic aging with increased morbidity and mortality.

   Sixty-seven mother-infant dyads were recruited in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Birthweight data were collected at birth, and blood samples were collected at birth and follow-up visits up to age 3. DNA methylation data were generated with the Illumina MethylationEPIC array and used to estimate epigenetic age. A multilevel model was used to test for associations between birthweight and epigenetic age acceleration.

   Chronological age was highly correlated with epigenetic age from birth to age 3 (r = 0.95, p < 2.2 × 10−16). Variation in epigenetic age acceleration increased over time. Birthweight, dichotomized around 2500 g, predicted epigenetic age acceleration over the first 3 years of life (b = −0.39, p = 0.005).

   Our longitudinal analysis provides the first evidence for accelerated epigenetic aging that emerges between birth and age 3 and associates with low birthweight. These results suggest that early life experiences, such as low birthweight, may shape the trajectory of epigenetic aging in early childhood. Furthermore, accelerated epigenetic aging may be a pathway that links low birthweight and poor adult health outcomes.

    

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