Psychological Bulletin © 2020 American Psychological Association ISSN: 0033-2909
2020, Vol. 2, No. 999, 000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000270
Biological Aging in Childhood and Adolescence Following Experiences of Threat and Deprivation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Natalie L. Colich and Maya L. Rosen
Eileen S. Williams
University of Washington
Stanford University
Katie A. McLaughlin This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Harvard University Life history theory argues that exposure to early life adversity (ELA) accelerates development, although existing evidence for this varies. We present a meta-analysis and systematic review testing the hypothesis that ELA involving threat (e.g., violence exposure) will be associated with accelerated biological aging across multiple metrics, whereas exposure to deprivation (e.g., neglect, institutional rearing) and low-socioeconomic status (SES) will not. We meta-analyze 54 studies (n ⫽ 116,010) examining associations of ELA with pubertal timing and cellular aging (telomere length and DNA methylation age), systematically review 25 studies (n ⫽ 3,253) examining ELA and neural markers of accelerated development (cortical thickness and amygdala-prefrontal cortex functional connectivity) and evaluate whether associations of ELA with biological aging vary according to the nature of adversity experienced. ELA overall was associated with accelerated pubertal timing (d ⫽ ⫺0.10) and cellular aging (d ⫽ ⫺0.21), but these associations varied by adversity type. Moderator analysis revealed that ELA characterized by threat was associated with accelerated pubertal development (d ⫽ ⫺0.26) and accelerated cellular aging (d ⫽ ⫺0.43), but deprivation and SES were unrelated to accelerated development. Systematic review revealed associations between ELA and accelerated cortical thinning, with threatrelated ELA consistently associated with thinning in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and deprivation and SES associated with thinning in frontoparietal, default, and visual networks. There was no consistent association of ELA with amygdala-PFC connectivity. These findings suggest specificity in the types of early environmental experiences associated with accelerated biological aging and highlight the importance of evaluating how accelerated aging contributes to health disparities and whether this process can be mitigated through early intervention.
Public Significance Statement This meta-analysis and systematic review suggests that biological aging following early life adversity, including earlier pubertal timing, advanced cellular aging, and accelerated thinning of the cortex, may be specific to children and adolescents who experienced violent or traumatic experiences early in childhood. No such effect was found for children who experienced deprivation or poverty in the absence of violence or trauma. These findings highlight a potential role of accelerated biological aging in health disparities associated with early life trauma, and a potential target for early interventions.
Keywords: threat, deprivation, pubertal timing, cellular aging, cortical thickness Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000270.supp
also want to thank Nicole Capdarest-Arest for her assistance with the literature search. This research was supported by NIH Grants (F32MH114317 to Natalie L. Colich; F32-HD089514, K99-HD099203 to Maya L. Rosen; R01-MH103291, R01-MH106482, R56-MH119194; R37MH119194 to Katie A. McLaughlin). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Natalie L. Colich, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195. E-mail: ncolich@uw.edu
Natalie L. Colich and Maya L. Rosen, Department of Psychology, University of Washington; Eileen S. Williams, Department of Psychology, Stanford University; Katie A. McLaughlin, Department of Psychology, Harvard University. Maya L. Rosen is now at the Department of Psychology, Harvard University. The authors wish to thank Kathryn L. Humphreys and Matthew Peverill for their assistance with the meta-analytic methods used in this article. We 1