Understanding dynamic correlates of children's telomere length: The interplay between cumulative risk exposure and relational processes

项目总结/摘要 端粒长度（TL）的减少，细胞应激的生物标志物，与后来的非典型人类 发展，包括精神病理学，慢性疾病和死亡率的风险增加。理解 无论是积极的还是消极的影响儿童TL的因素，需要提高儿童的长期 健康和幸福。目前，引起压力的不利经历（风险暴露），如家庭 经济压力，暴露于暴力，邻里劣势，既有独立的，也有剂量- 对TL的依赖性影响，每一次额外不良事件的发生都会加速TL缩短。 然而，这一领域以前的工作是有限的，因为它将风险暴露概念化为静态的，而不是静态的。 没有调查减轻累积风险暴露对以下方面影响的保护因素： 儿童的成果。拟议项目的目的是（1）研究累积风险敞口的波动如何 与儿童的端粒长度有前瞻性关联，（2）检查父母的谨慎性如何 在累积风险暴露和儿童端粒长度之间起着调节作用。到 为了实现这些目标，研究小组将对来自脆弱国家的数据进行纵向分析。 家庭和儿童福利研究（FFCWB）。该项目的结果将有助于更广泛的 理解积极或消极影响儿童TL的因素，并阐明TL的敏感期， 哪种不良经历的累积暴露可能对儿童最有害。

Project Summary/Abstract Reductions in telomere length (TL), a biomarker of cellular stress, are linked with later atypical human development, including elevated risk for psychopathology, chronic disease, and mortality. Understanding factors that either positively or negatively impact children’s TL is needed to enhance children’s long-term health and well-being. Currently, stress-inducing adverse experiences (risk exposures), such as household economic strain, exposure to violence, and neighborhood disadvantage, have both an independent and a dose- dependent effect on TL, with the occurrence of each additional adverse experience accelerating TL shortening. Prior work in this area is limited, however, in that it has conceptualized risk exposures as static rather than dynamic and has failed to investigate protective factors that mitigate the effect of cumulative risk exposures on children’s outcomes. The proposed project aims to (1) examine how fluctuations in cumulative risk exposure are prospectively associated with children’s telomere length and (2) examine how parents’ supportiveness towards each other serves as a moderator between cumulative risk exposure and children’s telomere length. To achieve these aims, the research team will conduct a dyadic, longitudinal analysis of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWB). Findings from this project will contribute to a broader understanding of factors that positively or negatively impact children’s TL and elucidate sensitive periods in which cumulative exposure to adverse experiences may be most harmful for children.