RESUMO
Importance: The link between familial loss of a loved one and long-term health decline is complex and not fully understood. Objective: To test associations of losing a parent, sibling, child, or partner or spouse with accelerated biological aging. Design, Setting, and Participants: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a US population-based longitudinal cohort study, were analyzed. Participants were enrolled from 1994 to 1995 for wave 1, while in grades 7 to 12, and followed up through wave 5 in 2018. The study analyzed participant reports of loss collected at each wave from 1 to 5 over 24 years and used a banked wave 5 blood sample for subsequent DNA methylation testing and epigenetic clock calculation from 2018 to 2024. Data were analyzed from January 2022 to July 2024. Exposure: Loss of biological parents or parental figures, partners or spouses, siblings, or children at waves 1 to 3 or during childhood, adolescence (aged <18 years), or adulthood at wave 4 to wave 5 (aged 18-43 years). Main Outcomes and Measures: Biological aging assessed from blood DNA methylation using the Horvath, PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE epigenetic clocks at wave 5. Results: Data from 3963 participants were analyzed, with a weighted mean (range) age of 38.36 (36.78-39.78) years at wave 5; 2370 (50.3%) were male, 720 (15.97%) were Black, 400 (8.18%) were Hispanic, and 2642 (72.53%) were White. Nearly 40% of participants experienced loss by wave 5 when they were aged 33 to 43 years, and participants who were Black (379 participants [56.67%]), Hispanic (152 participants [41.38%]), and American Indian (18 participants [56.08%]) experienced a greater proportion of losses compared with White participants (884 participants [34.09%]). Those who experienced 2 or more losses tended to have older biological ages for several of the clocks (PhenoAge ß = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.28; GrimAge ß = 0.27; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.45; DunedinPACE ß = 0.22; 95% CI, 0.10 to 0.34) compared with those with no losses. In contrast, there were no associations with 2 or more losses for the Horvath clock (ß = -0.08; 95% CI, -0.23 to 0.06). Conclusions and Relevance: This study reveals associations between various measures of loss experienced from childhood to adulthood and biological aging in a diverse sample of the US population. These findings underscore the potentially enduring impact of loss on biological aging even before middle age and may contribute to understanding racial and ethnic disparities in health and mortality.
Assuntos
Metilação de DNA , Humanos , Masculino , Feminino , Estudos Longitudinais , Adulto , Adolescente , Estados Unidos , Metilação de DNA/genética , Envelhecimento/genética , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Epigenômica/métodos , Adulto Jovem , Família/psicologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Within relationships, sexual motives and stress are independent determinants of psychological health, with notable gendered patterns. However, previous research largely focuses on young adults and different-sex couples. Both sexual motives and levels of stress may be uniquely important to psychological health in midlife, and in potentially different ways for same-sex and different-sex couples. This study examined how the associations between sexual motives, stress, and depressive symptoms differ for midlife men and women in same-sex and different-sex marriages. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Using dyadic data from same-sex and different-sex midlife married couples (N = 830 individuals; 415 couples), we examined the associations of intrinsic (e.g., sex for enjoyment and pleasure) and extrinsic (e.g., sex to please one's spouse) motives for having sex with depressive symptoms and tested whether these associations differed by levels of stress for same-sex and different-sex spouses. RESULTS: Intrinsic sexual motives were associated with fewer depressive symptoms only for same-sex married couples under high stress. Extrinsic sexual motives were related to greater depressive symptoms for women in low-stress conditions and men in high-stress conditions, and this did not differ for same-sex compared to different-sex marriages. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Results show that the interplay between sexual motives and stress varies for men and women in same-sex and different-sex marriages. These findings underscore the importance of considering both gender and sexuality in studying sexual motives in midlife and suggest sexual motives as a useful treatment focus for protecting the psychological health of midlife married couples.
Assuntos
Depressão , Comportamento Sexual , Masculino , Humanos , Feminino , Comportamento Sexual/psicologia , Motivação , Identidade de Gênero , Casamento/psicologiaRESUMO
Two separate bodies of literature point to the link between family bereavement and cardiovascular health and between sleep quality and cardiovascular outcomes. However, less is known about the joint influence of family bereavement and sleep quality on cardiovascular functioning. The aims of this study were to examine the relationships between experiencing the death of a family member and heart rate variability (HRV) and to further explore whether these associations differ by sleep quality. Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Biomarker Project, the sample for this study included respondents who experienced the death of an immediate family member - father, mother, spouse, sibling, or child - within a year before the Biomarker project and those who did not experience any deaths (N = 962). We used two measures of HRV and sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results showed that experiencing the death of a family member was associated with worse HRV only among those with poor sleep quality and not for those with good sleep quality. These results suggest that poor sleep quality may indicate psychophysiological vulnerability for those who experienced the death of a family member. Interventions to improve sleep quality could be effective in enhancing cardiovascular health of bereaved individuals.
Assuntos
Luto , Distúrbios do Início e da Manutenção do Sono , Criança , Humanos , Estados Unidos , Frequência Cardíaca/fisiologia , Qualidade do Sono , Família , Sono/fisiologiaRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Black Americans typically experience the death of a parent earlier in the life course than do non-Hispanic Whites, and early parental death is known to hinder subsequent relationship outcomes. Whether early parental death may contribute to racial differences in midlife family relationships and the role midlife adults' current life problems play remain unexplored. METHOD: Using multilevel modeling, we examined how timing of parental death is associated with relationship strain with adult children and whether the association differs by midlife adults' life problems in Black (n = 166) and non-Hispanic White (n = 467) families from the Family Exchanges Study. RESULTS: Losing a parent in childhood was associated with more relationship strain with adult children for Black midlife adults, but not for their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Among the bereaved, earlier timing of parental death was associated with more relationship strain with adult children only for Black midlife adults. In both bereaved and nonbereaved sample, participants' recent physical-emotional problems exacerbated the link between timing of parental death and relationship strain with adult children for Black midlife adults. DISCUSSION: Experiencing the death of a parent in the early life course can be an added structural disadvantage that imposes unique challenges for Black Americans in midlife. Policies and programs aimed at supporting bereaved children may benefit relationships with their own children later in life, and addressing physical-emotional problems in midlife may be a viable intervention point for those midlife adults who experienced the death of a parent in the early life course.
Assuntos
Filhos Adultos/etnologia , Experiências Adversas da Infância/etnologia , Negro ou Afro-Americano/etnologia , Relações Pais-Filho/etnologia , Morte Parental/etnologia , População Branca/etnologia , Fatores Etários , Idoso , Conflito Familiar , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Fatores RaciaisRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Social integration (involvement with a diverse array of social ties) has been linked to positive outcomes including better physical health. Research has not investigated whether encounters with diverse social ties enhance individuals' daily behaviors. The objectives of this study were to assess whether social ties connect individuals to more diverse daily behaviors, physical activity, and nonsedentary time as well as more positive mood. METHOD: Older adults (aged 65+, n = 313) provided information about their 10 closest social ties. Then they completed ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys every 3 hr for 5-6 days where they reported on social encounters and behaviors. They also wore Actical accelerometers to objectively measure physical activity. RESULTS: Multilevel models revealed that encounters with a greater variety of social ties was associated with engaging in a greater variety of behaviors, more objectively measured physical activity, and a smaller proportion of time spent sedentary. Encounters with weak ties/peripheral social ties accounted for this increased activity (compared to being alone or with close friends or family). Moreover, involvement with diverse ties or diverse behaviors was associated with better mood. DISCUSSION: Findings are discussed in terms of social engagement theory, network diversity, and the benefits of weak ties.
Assuntos
Atividades Cotidianas , Integração Social , Acelerometria , Atividades Cotidianas/psicologia , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Exercício Físico/psicologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Comportamento Sedentário , Rede Social , Participação Social , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To document short- and long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms following widowhood and to test whether these trajectories vary by gender and anticipatory spousal loss. METHOD: Eight waves of prospective panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, over a 14-year period, are used to evaluate gender differences in depressive symptoms following widowhood in late midlife. Short-term trajectories are modeled using a linear regression of change in Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) score on duration of widowhood. Long-term trajectories are modeled using a mixed-effects hierarchical linear model of CES-D scores over time. RESULTS: We find no gender differences in bereavement effects on depressive symptoms in either short or long term, net of widowhood duration. When spousal death is anticipated, both men and women return to their prewidowhood levels of depressive symptoms within 24 months of becoming widowed. Across marital groups, the continuously married are better off compared with the widowed even prior to spousal loss, whereas early, long-term widowhood is associated with worse outcomes compared with late widowhood. DISCUSSION: Although men and women do not differ in trajectories of depressive symptoms following widowhood, given similar circumstances, women are distinctly disadvantaged in that they are more likely to become widowed and under less favorable conditions.
Assuntos
Adaptação Psicológica , Depressão/etiologia , Viuvez/psicologia , Idoso , Luto , Depressão/psicologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Estado Civil , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Prospectivos , Fatores Sexuais , Fatores de Tempo , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Viuvez/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
Although the meanings and rates of being married, divorced, separated, never-married, and widowed have changed significantly over the past several decades, we know very little about historical trends in the relationship between marital status and health. Our analysis of pooled data from the National Health Interview Survey from 1972 to 2003 shows that the self-rated health of the never-married has improved over the past three decades. Moreover, the gap between the married and the never married has steadily converged over time for men but not for women. In contrast, the self-rated health of the widowed, divorced, and separated worsened over time relative to the married, and the adverse effects of marital dissolution have increased more for women than for men. Our findings highlight the importance of social change in shaping the impact of marital status on self-reported health and challenge long-held assumptions about gender, marital status, and health.