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

项目摘要/摘要 细胞应激的生物标志物端粒长度(TL)的减少与晚期非典型人类有关 发展，包括精神病理、慢性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目标语言的因素都需要提高儿童的长期 健康和幸福。目前，导致压力的不利经历(风险暴露)，如家庭 经济压力、暴力暴露和社区劣势，既有独立的，也有剂量- 对TL的依赖效应，每增加一次不良经历就会加速TL缩短。 然而，以前在这一领域的工作是有限的，因为它将风险暴露概念化为静态的，而不是 动态的，并未能调查保护因素，以减轻累积风险暴露对 孩子们的结局。拟议的项目旨在(1)检查累积风险敞口的波动如何 前瞻性地与孩子的端粒长度有关，以及(2)研究父母的支持 朝向彼此在累积风险暴露和儿童端粒长度之间起调节作用。至 为了实现这些目标，研究团队将对脆弱的数据进行二元性、纵向分析 家庭和儿童福祉研究(FFCWB)。该项目的发现将有助于更广泛的 了解对儿童TL有正面或负面影响的因素，并阐明儿童的敏感期 哪种累积的不良经历可能对儿童的伤害最大。

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.