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. 2016 Jan-Feb;87(1):111-21.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.12486.

Parenting, Socioeconomic Status Risk, and Later Young Adult Health: Exploration of Opposing Indirect Effects via DNA Methylation

Steven R H Beach  1 , Man-Kit Lei  1 , Gene H Brody  1 , Sangjin Kim  1 , Allen W Barton  1 , Meesha V Dogan  2 , Robert A Philibert  2
Affiliations

Parenting, Socioeconomic Status Risk, and Later Young Adult Health: Exploration of Opposing Indirect Effects via DNA Methylation

Steven R H Beach et al. Child Dev. 2016 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

A sample of 398 African American youth, residing in rural counties with high poverty and unemployment, were followed from ages 11 to 19. Protective parenting was associated with better health, whereas elevated socioeconomic status (SES) risk was associated with poorer health at age 19. Genome-wide epigenetic variation assessed in young adulthood (age 19), was associated with both SES risk and protective parenting. Three categories of genes were identified whose methylation was associated with parenting, SES risk, and young adult health. Methylation was a significant mediator of the impact of parenting and SES risk on young adult health. Variation in mononuclear white blood cell types was also examined and controlled, showing that it did not account for observed effects of parenting and SES risk on health.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The conceptual model showing two potential shared, biological, indirect pathways from early SES-risk and Parenting to young adult health.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Model of direct and indirect effects of SES-risk and Parenting on Self-reported health using the total methylation index (420 CpG sites) as the mediator. Note: χ2 = 16.372, df = 19, p = .632; CFI = 1.000; RMSEA = .000. Batch effect, males, and age are controlled. Values presented are standardized parameter estimates with robust standard errors in parentheses. Factor scores reflect cell-type variation. **p ≤ .01; *p ≤ .05, †p < .10 (two-tailed tests), n = 398.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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