Re(Setting) Epigenetic Clocks: An Important Avenue Whereby Social Conditions Become Biologically Embedded across the Life Course

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-453
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Simons ◽  
Man-Kit Lei ◽  
Eric Klopach ◽  
Mark Berg ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Biological Aging ◽  
Time To Death ◽  
Epigenetic Aging ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Sociological Studies

Research on biological embedding of the social environment has been expedited by increased availability of biomarkers. Recently, this arsenal of measures has been expanded to include epigenetic clocks that indicate in years the extent to which an individual is older or younger than their chronological age. These measures of biological aging, especially GrimAge, are robust predictors of both illness and time to death. Importantly for sociologists, several studies have linked social conditions to these indices of aging. The present study extends this research using longitudinal data from a sample of 223 black women participating in the Family and Community Health Study. We find that changes in income and living arrangements over an 11-year period predict changes in speed of biological aging. These results provide further support for the idea that epigenetic aging is a mechanism whereby social conditions become biologically embedded. The utility of epigenetic clocks for sociological studies of health are discussed.

scholarly journals The Pivotal Role of Women in Informal Care

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1348-1378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet Bracke ◽  
Wendy Christiaens ◽  
Naomi Wauterickx
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Life Course

Supporting and caring for each other are crucial parts of the social tissue that binds people together. In these networks, men and women hold different positions: Women more often care more for others, listen more to the problems of others, and, as kin keepers, hold families together. Is this true for all life stages? And are social conditions, among other things bound to the organization of work and family, an essential explanation of these differences? Data from the sixth wave (1997) of the Panel Study of Belgian Households allow us to answer these questions. The results show that women are the glue holding social relations together. They play a central role as friends, daughters, sisters, mothers, and grandmothers throughout all stages of the life course. Similar life commitments do not reduce these gender differences but instead emphasize them even further.

Assessing the social and economic welfare of the population: A Russian region perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1910-1925
Author(s):  
R.M. Sadykov ◽  
E.K. Khalikova
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Economic Welfare ◽  
Production Factors ◽  
Russian Region ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociological Studies

Subject. This article analyzes the basic indices that most fully reflect the multidimensional well-being of the population and the standards the actual living conditions are compared with. Objectives. The article aims to assess the region population's well-being and develop priority measures to increase its level. Methods. For the study, we used a comparative analysis, and sociological studies and official statistics data. Results. The article describes the main reasons for the decline in the well-being of the population of the region and Russia as a whole. The article specifies the priority measures to improve the well-being of the population. Conclusions. Creating favorable economic and social conditions, developing international cooperation of companies, investment in human capital will help improve the quality of production factors and their efficiency.

Social Planning of Housing

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Carmon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Process ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Social Goals ◽  
Social Planning ◽  
Ethnic Integration ◽  
The Social ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
Sociological Studies ◽  
Relevant Factors ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACTA planner should be aware of alternative social goals of housing planning. For example: to encourage frequent contacts and manifest neighbourliness, or to plan for maximum privacy; to strive for ethnic integration through ethnically mixed housing or to let people live close to those who resemble themselves, as they usually prefer. The selection of social goals involves value judgements, but opinions differ about the question of whose values should be considered in this decision process.Once the basic value judgements are made and the social goals selected, the planner looks for ways to realize the goals. This paper surveys sociological studies which define some of the relevant factors and provide guidance concerning social conditions in which physical planning can contribute to the realization of selected goals.

scholarly journals Obesity and accelerated epigenetic aging in a high-risk cohort of children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Etzel ◽  
Waylon J. Hastings ◽  
Molly A. Hall ◽  
Christine Heim ◽  
Michael J. Meaney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Continuous Variable ◽  
Cellular Aging ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Biological Aging ◽  
Blood Leukocytes ◽  
Cell Counts ◽  
Epigenetic Aging ◽  
The Impact ◽  
High Risk Cohort

Background: New insights into mechanisms linking obesity to poor health outcomes suggest a role for cellular aging pathways, casting obesity as a disease of accelerated biological aging. Although obesity has been linked to accelerated epigenetic aging in middle-aged adults, the impact during childhood remains unclear. We tested the association between body mass index (BMI) and accelerated epigenetic aging in a cohort of high-risk children. Participants were children (N=273, aged 8 to 14 years, 82% investigated for maltreatment) recruited to the Child Health Study, an ongoing prospective study of youth investigated for maltreatment and a comparison youth. BMI was measured as a continuous variable. Accelerated epigenetic aging of blood leukocytes was defined as the age-adjusted residuals of several established epigenetic aging clocks (Horvath, Hannum, GrimAge, PhenoAge) along with a newer algorithm, the DunedinPoAm, developed to quantify the pace-of-aging. Hypotheses were tested with generalized linear models. Results: Higher BMI was significantly correlated with older chronological age, maltreatment status, household income, blood cell counts, and three of the accelerated epigenetic aging measures: GrimAge (r=0.29, P<.0001), PhenoAge (r=0.25, P<.0001), and DunedinPoAm (r=0.37, P<.0001). In fully adjusted models, GrimAge (b=.06; P=.007) and DunedinPoAm (b=.0017; P<.0001) remained significantly associated with higher BMI. Maltreatment-status was not independently associated with accelerated epigenetic aging after accounting for other factors. Conclusion: In a high-risk cohort of children, higher BMI predicted epigenetic aging as assessed by two epigenetic aging clocks. These results suggest the association between obesity and accelerated epigenetic aging begins in early life, with implications for future morbidity and mortality risk.

scholarly journals Neighborhood environment, social cohesion, and epigenetic aging

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantel L. Martin ◽  
Cavin K. Ward-Caviness ◽  
Radhika Dhingra ◽  
Tarek M. Zikry ◽  
Sandro Galea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Neighborhood Environment ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Biological Aging ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Neighborhood Conditions ◽  
Neighborhood Poverty ◽  
Epigenetic Aging ◽  
Increased Risk

ABSTRACTLiving in adverse neighborhood environments have been linked to increased risk of aging-related diseases and mortality; however, the biological mechanisms explaining this observation remain poorly understood. DNA methylation (DNAm), a proposed biomarker of biological aging responsive to environmental stressors, offers promising insight into molecular pathways. We examined associations of three measures of neighborhood conditions (poverty, quality, and social cohesion) with three different epigenetic clocks (Horvath, Hannum, and Levine) using data from the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (n=158). Using linear regression models, we evaluated associations in the total sample and stratified by gender and social cohesion. Differential effects by gender were found between men and women. Neighborhood poverty was associated with PhenoAge acceleration among women, but not among men (women: β = 1.4; 95% CI: −0.4, 3.3 vs. men: β = −0.3; 95% CI: −2.2, 1.5) in fully adjusted models. In models stratified on social cohesion, association of neighborhood poverty and quality with accelerated DNAm aging remained elevated for residents living in neighborhoods with lower social cohesion, but were null for those living in neighborhoods with higher social cohesion. Our study suggests that living in adverse neighborhood conditions can speed up epigenetic aging, while positive neighborhood characteristics may buffer effects.

Intergenerational Exchanges and Perceptions of Support within “Boomerang Kid” Family Environments

1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean E. Veevers ◽  
Barbara A. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Parental Home ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intergenerational Exchanges ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Affective Support

Drawing on the social exchange perspective, we examine: 1) the extent to which adult children who have returned to the parental home (“boomerang kids”) exchange several types of instrumental and affective support with their parents, and 2) whether there is symmetry or incongruence in perceptions of support among these family dyads. The data used for this study are drawn from interviews with one child and one parent from 218 families in which the child has recently returned home. Findings indicate that children receive more frequent instrumental and emotional (affective) support than parents receive, and that parents perceive that they receive considerably more emotional support than boomerang children acknowledge donating. Implications for family relationships over the life course and household living arrangements are considered.

Losing Years Doing Time: Incarceration Exposure and Accelerated Biological Aging among African American Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 002214652110525
Author(s):  
Mark T. Berg ◽  
Ethan M. Rogers ◽  
Man-Kit Lei ◽  
Ronald L. Simons
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Accelerated Aging ◽  
Premature Mortality ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Biological Aging ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
African American Adults ◽  
Epigenetic Aging ◽  
The Family ◽  
Using Data

Research suggests that incarceration exposure increases the prevalence of morbidity and premature mortality. This work is only beginning to examine whether the stressors of the incarceration experience become biologically embedded in ways that affect physiological deterioration. Using data from a longitudinal sample of 410 African American adults in the Family and Community Health Study and an epigenetic index of aging, this study tests the extent to which incarceration accelerates epigenetic aging and whether experiences with violence moderate this association. Results from models that adjust for selection effects suggest that incarceration exposure predicted accelerated aging, leaving formerly incarcerated African American individuals biologically older than their calendar age. Direct experiences with violence also exacerbated the effects of incarceration. These findings suggest that incarceration possibly triggers a stress response that affects a biological signature of physiological deterioration.

The Social Construction of a Perfect Market: The Strawberry Auction at Fontaines-en-Sologne

2010 ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
M.-F. Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Per Se

The article examines social conditions and mechanisms of the emergence in 1982 of a «Dutch» strawberry auction in Fontaines-en-Sologne, France. Empirical study of this case shows that perfect market does not arise per se due to an «invisible hand». It is a social construction, which could only be put into effect by a hard struggle between stakeholders and large investments of different forms of capital. Ordinary practices of the market dont differ from the predictions of economic theory, which is explained by the fact that economic theory served as a frame of reference for the designers of the auction. Technological and spatial organization as well as principal rules of trade was elaborated in line with economic views of perfect market resulting in the correspondence between theory and reality.

About Using the Complex Method in Studies of the Quality of Life of the Population of the North Ossetia

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
I. M. Loskutova ◽  
N. G. Romanova
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Complex Method ◽  
The North ◽  
Social Wellbeing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociological Studies ◽  
North Ossetia

This article is devoted to the application of an integrated approach in the study of the quality of life of the population of the North Ossetia. Aspects of the specifity of objective and subjective approaches are substantiated. The increasing importance of the concept of “quality of life” in the XXI century is indicated. A review of sociological studies of the level and quality of life in Russia, as well as a range of monographic works on the analyzed issues. The results of empirical sociological studies in 2014 and 2018 (a study of the quality and standard of living of the population of North Ossetia and a study of the social wellbeing of the population of North Ossetia using the methodology developed by Lapin N. I. and Belyaeva L. A.) are presented.

Practicing Narrative Inquiry II

2020 ◽  
pp. 283-328
Author(s):  
Arthur P. Bochner ◽  
Andrew F. Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Narrative Inquiry ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Crisis Of Representation ◽  
Small Story ◽  
The Life Course

Narrative inquiry provides an opportunity to humanize the human sciences, placing people, meaning, and personal identity at the center of research, inviting the development of reflexive, relational, dialogic, and interpretive methodologies, and drawing attention to the need to focus not only on the actual but also on the possible and the good. In this chapter, we focus on the intellectual, existential, empirical, and pragmatic development of the turn toward narrative. We trace the rise of narrative inquiry as it evolved in the aftermath of the crisis of representation in the social sciences. The chapter synthesizes the changing methodological orientations of qualitative researchers associated with narrative inquiry as well as their ethical commitments. In the second half of the chapter, our focus shifts to the divergent standpoints of small-story and big-story researchers; the differences between narrative analysis and narratives under analysis; and narrative practices that seek to help people form better relationships, overcome oppressive canonical identities, amplify or reclaim moral agency, and cope better with contingencies and difficulties experienced over the life course. We anticipate that narrative inquiry will continue to situate itself within an intermediate zone between art and science, healing and research, self and others, subjectivity and objectivity, and theories and stories.

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