Maternal and Paternal Impulsivity and Adolescent Epigenetic Age Acceleration

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Epigenetics
• Public Health

Background:

• Parental behavior significantly influences child development.
• Epigenetic aging, a measure of biological age, can be affected by environmental factors.
• Understanding early life exposures is crucial for long-term health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between cumulative parental impulsivity exposure during childhood and accelerated epigenetic aging in adolescence.
• To determine if maternal and paternal impulsivity differentially impact adolescent epigenetic age.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a large US birth cohort.
• Assessed parental impulsivity via self-report in early childhood (ages 1-5).
• Measured adolescent accelerated epigenetic age at ages 9 and 15 using PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE epigenetic clocks.

Main Results:

• Maternal impulsivity in early childhood was significantly associated with increased accelerated epigenetic aging from ages 9 to 15.
• Paternal impulsivity did not show a significant association with accelerated epigenetic aging.
• Specific epigenetic clocks (GrimAge, DunedinPACE) confirmed the link between maternal impulsivity and accelerated aging.

Conclusions:

• Maternal impulsivity may act as an environmental stressor contributing to accelerated epigenetic aging during adolescence.
• Parental behavior, particularly maternal impulsivity, should be considered within broader social and ecological contexts influencing child development.
• These findings suggest that interventions addressing parental behavior could impact long-term biological aging trajectories.