IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v355y2024ics0277953624005951.html

Grandparents' educational attainment is associated with grandchildren's epigenetic-based age acceleration in the National Growth and Health Study

Author

Listed:
  • Surachman, Agus
  • Hamlat, Elissa
  • Zannas, Anthony S.
  • Horvath, Steve
  • Laraia, Barbara
  • Epel, Elissa

Abstract

We examined three generations (grandparents, mothers, and grandchildren) to assess the association between grandparents' educational attainment and their grandchildren's epigenetic-based age acceleration and whether the association was mediated by parental educational attainment and mothers' life course health-related factors. Mothers were recruited to the NHLBI Growth and Health Study at 9–10 years and followed for 10 years (1987–1998). Mothers were then re-contacted three decades later (ages 37–42) to participate in the National Growth and Health Study (NGHS), and health information from their youngest child (i.e., grandchildren; N = 241, ages 2–17) was collected, including their saliva samples to calculate epigenetic age. Five epigenetic-based age acceleration measures were included in this analysis, including four epigenetic clock age accelerations (Horvath, Hannum, GrimAge, and PhenoAge) and DunedinPACE. Grandparents reported their highest education during the initial enrollment interviews. Parental educational attainment and mothers' life course health-related factors (childhood BMI trajectories, adult cardiovascular health behavioral risk score, and adult c-reactive protein) are included as mediators. Grandparents' education was significantly associated with Horvath age acceleration (b = −0.32, SE = 0.14, p = 0.021). Grandchildren with college-degree grandparents showed significantly slower Horvath age accelerations than those without college degrees. This association was partially mediated by parental education and mothers' health-related factors, especially adult cardiovascular health behavioral risk score and CRP, but not mothers' childhood BMI trajectory. This ability to conserve the speed of biological aging may have considerable consequences in shaping health trajectories across the lifespan.

Suggested Citation

  • Surachman, Agus & Hamlat, Elissa & Zannas, Anthony S. & Horvath, Steve & Laraia, Barbara & Epel, Elissa, 2024. "Grandparents' educational attainment is associated with grandchildren's epigenetic-based age acceleration in the National Growth and Health Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:355:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624005951
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624005951
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117142?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew Steptoe & Steptoe Zaninotto, 2020. "Lower socioeconomic status and the acceleration of aging: An outcome-wide analysis," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(26), pages 14911-14917, June.
    2. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez & Nicholas Turner, 2014. "Is the United States Still a Land of Opportunity? Recent Trends in Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 141-147, May.
    3. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez, 2014. "Where is the land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(4), pages 1553-1623.
    4. Goosby, Bridget J. & Cheadle, Jacob E. & McDade, Thomas, 2016. "Birth weight, early life course BMI, and body size change: Chains of risk to adult inflammation?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 102-109.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martti Kaila & Emily Nix & Krista Riukula, 2021. "Disparate Impacts of Job Loss by Parental Income and Implications for Intergenerational Mobility," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    2. Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant & Nicolas Marceau & Jean-Denis Garon, 2024. "Uncovering Gatsby Curves," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(4), pages 833-864, December.
    3. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    4. Marie Connolly & Catherine Haeck, 2024. "Intergenerational income mobility trends in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(1), pages 5-26, February.
    5. Cassandra Robertson & Rourke O’Brien, 2018. "Health Endowment at Birth and Variation in Intergenerational Economic Mobility: Evidence From U.S. County Birth Cohorts," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 249-269, February.
    6. Olivetti, Claudia & Paserman, M. Daniele & Salisbury, Laura, 2018. "Three-generation mobility in the United States, 1850–1940: The role of maternal and paternal grandparents," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 73-90.
    7. Anna Manzoni & Jessi Streib, 2019. "The Equalizing Power of a College Degree for First-Generation College Students: Disparities Across Institutions, Majors, and Achievement Levels," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(5), pages 577-605, August.
    8. Gregory Pavela & Kenzie Latham, 2016. "Childhood Conditions and Multimorbidity Among Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 71(5), pages 889-901.
    9. Baochun Peng & Haidong Yuan, 2021. "Dynamic Fairness: Mobility, Inequality, and the Distribution of Prospects," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(4), pages 1314-1338, October.
    10. Bortolotti, Stefania & Soraperra, Ivan & Sutter, Matthias, 2025. "Social Risk, Fairness Types, and Redistribution," IZA Discussion Papers 18122, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. repec:rim:rimwps:21-03 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Brea-Martinez, Gabriel, 2021. "The beneficial impact of mother’s work on children’s absolute income mobility, Southern Sweden (1947-2015)," SocArXiv c27s8, Center for Open Science.
    13. Minchul Yum, 2023. "Parental Time Investment And Intergenerational Mobility," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(1), pages 187-223, February.
    14. Katharine M. Broton & Kari E. Weaver & Minhtuyen Mai, 2018. "Hunger in Higher Education: Experiences and Correlates of Food Insecurity among Wisconsin Undergraduates from Low-Income Families," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-25, September.
    15. Findeisen, Sebastian & Dauth, Wolfgang & Lee, Tim, 2016. "Human Capital Accumulation over the Life-Cycle: Evidence from Germany’s Reunification," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145887, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Jerch, Rhiannon & Kahn, Matthew E. & Lin, Gary C., 2023. "Local public finance dynamics and hurricane shocks," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    17. Chatzouz, Moustafa, 2014. "Government Debt and Wealth Inequality: Theory and Insights from Altruism," MPRA Paper 77007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Chenhong Peng & Paul Siu Fai Yip & Yik Wa Law, 2019. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility and Returns to Education in Hong Kong: A Developed Society with High Economic Inequality," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 133-156, May.
    19. Liss, Erik & Korpi, Martin & Wennberg, Karl, 2023. "Absolute income mobility and the effect of parent generation inequality: An extended decomposition approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    20. Javier Cortés Orihuela & Juan D. Díaz & Pablo Gutiérrez Cubillos & Pablo A. Troncoso & Gabriel I. Villarroel, 2024. "Intergenerational earnings mobility in Chile: the tale of the upper tail," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(5), pages 2411-2447, November.
    21. Kristoffer Berg & Mr. Shafik Hebous, 2021. "Does a Wealth Tax Improve Equality of Opportunity? Evidence from Norway," IMF Working Papers 2021/085, International Monetary Fund.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:355:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624005951. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.