Social inequalities in accelerated aging among southern U.S. women: an analysis of the biosocial and behavioral pathways linking social determinants to telomere length.

Few studies have examined the biosocial pathways linking socioeconomic status (SES) to accelerated aging in a population-based sample of southern US women. Even fewer have examined the importance of chronic compared to perceived stress in linking SES to women's salivary telomere length (STL). Using data from a probability-based sample of 156 US women and structural equation modeling, we examined three pathways - chronic stress exposure, stress appraisal, and coping behavior - linking SES to STL. SES was positively associated with STL (ßTE = 0.16, p < .05). Everyday discrimination was negatively associated with STL (ßDE = -0.21, p < .05), but perceived stress was positively associated with STL (ßDE = 0.20, p < .05). Current smoking decreased STL (ßDE = -0.19, p < .01). Perceived stress acted to suppress the negative relationship of chronic stress exposure on STL. Given the dearth of STL studies that include measures of both perceived and chronic stress, our study supports the importance of disentangling stress measures and a biosocial approach to the study of accelerated aging.