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. 2013 Aug;25(3):577-585.
doi: 10.1017/S0954579413000011. Epub 2013 Mar 26.

Parental responsiveness moderates the association between early-life stress and reduced telomere length

A Asok #  1 , K Bernard #  1 , T L Roth  1 , J B Rosen  1 , M Dozier  1
Affiliations

Parental responsiveness moderates the association between early-life stress and reduced telomere length

A Asok et al. Dev Psychopathol. 2013 Aug.

Abstract

Early-life stress, such as maltreatment, institutionalization, and exposure to violence, is associated with accelerated telomere shortening. Telomere shortening may thus represent a biomarker of early adversity. Previous studies have suggested that responsive parenting may protect children from the negative biological and behavioral consequences of early adversity. This study examined the role of parental responsiveness in buffering children from telomere shortening following experiences of early-life stress. We found that high-risk children had significantly shorter telomeres than low-risk children, controlling for household income, birth weight, gender, and minority status. Further, parental responsiveness moderated the association between risk and telomere length, with more responsive parenting associated with longer telomeres only among high-risk children. These findings suggest that responsive parenting may have protective benefits on telomere shortening for young children exposed to early-life stress. Therefore, this study has important implications for early parenting interventions.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Simplified illustration of telomere sequences located at the end of chromosomes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relative telomere length in Low-risk versus High-risk children. Error bars are ± S.E.M, *p <.05.
Figure 3a
Figure 3a
Moderating role of parental responsiveness (graphed continuously) on the association between early-life risk and telomere length. Trend lines show that parental responsiveness predicted telomere length in high-risk children, but not in low-risk children. Data points represent individual participant's relative telomere length (along the y-axis) by parental responsiveness score (along the x-axis). For the 25% of participants with double-coded parental responsiveness data, plotted data points reflect the average of both coders’ scores, which is why 2 scores fall between major scale points.
Figure 3b
Figure 3b
Moderating role of parental responsiveness on the association between early-life risk and telomere length (graphed as median split for illustrative purposes). Error bars are ± S.E.M, *p < .05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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