Does experiencing racism as a teen make you age faster?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-10-08 02:00

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A study of around 2000 young people in the US has found that white young people seem to be ageing slower at the level of their DNA between the ages of 9 and 15 compared to young people from other races or ethnicities. To assess their rate of ageing, the researchers used an epigenetic clock, which measures chemical changes in parts of DNA linked to ageing, illness, and mortality. They also found that for Black youths, these differences in epigenetic ageing were linked with the group experiencing more frequent intrusive police encounters such as stop-and-frisk, and racial slurs. The authors say the transition from childhood to adolescence may be a sensitive developmental period when racism can have long-term negative impacts on healthy human development across the lifespan.

Media release

From: JAMA

Longitudinal Changes in Epigenetic Age Acceleration Across Childhood and Adolescence

JAMA PediatricsOriginal Investigation
Longitudinal Changes in Epigenetic Age Acceleration Across Childhood and Adolescence

About The Study: The transition from childhood to adolescence may represent a sensitive developmental period when racism can have long-term deleterious impacts on healthy human development across the life span. Future research should build on the present study and interrogate which social regularities and policies may be perpetuating discrimination against ethnically and racially minoritized adolescents.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Juan Del Toro, PhD, email jdeltoro@umn.edu.

(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.3669)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, USA

Funder: Dr Martz is supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grants T32HD007081 and P2CHD042849. Mr Freilich and Dr Rea-Sandin were partly supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse grant T32DA050560. Dr Krueger is partly supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01AG077742, U19AG051426, and R01AG053217

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