The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Child Telomere Length: Examining Self‐Regulation as a Behavioral Mediator

Childhood adversity is linked to shortened telomere length (TL), but behavioral indicators of telomere attrition remain unclear. This study examined the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and child TL, and if ACEs were indirectly associated with TL through children’s self‐regul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChild development Vol. 92; no. 2; pp. 746 - 759
Main Authors Sosnowski, David W., Kliewer, Wendy, Valrie, Cecelia R., Winter, Marcia A., Serpell, Zewelanji, Amstadter, Ananda B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2021
Subjects
Adverse childhood experiences
Adversity
Attrition
Causality
Childhood experiences
Children
Self regulation
Teachers
Telomeres
Temperament
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Summary:Childhood adversity is linked to shortened telomere length (TL), but behavioral indicators of telomere attrition remain unclear. This study examined the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and child TL, and if ACEs were indirectly associated with TL through children’s self‐regulatory abilities (i.e., effortful control and self‐control). Hypotheses were tested using national data from teachers, parents, and their children (N = 2,527; Mage = 9.35, SD = .36 years). More ACEs were uniquely associated with short TL, and low self‐control mediated the association between more ACEs and short TL. While longitudinal studies are needed to strengthen claims of causation, this study identifies a pathway from ACEs to TL that should be explored further.
Bibliography:http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu
Funding: The Fragile Families Study was funded by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD (#R01HD36916) and a consortium of private foundations. Persons interested in obtaining Fragile Families contract data should see
Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
for further information. This study was approved by the Virginia Commonwealth University Institutional Review Board (HM20013033).
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent and assent was obtained from all participants included in the study.
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ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.1111/cdev.13441