Do Loneliness and Per Capita Income Combine to Increase the Pace of Biological Aging for Black Adults across Late Middle Age?

Steven R. H. Beach (), Eric T. Klopack, Sierra E. Carter, Robert A. Philibert, Ronald L. Simons, Frederick X. Gibbons, Mei Ling Ong, Meg Gerrard and Man-Kit Lei
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Steven R. H. Beach: Center for Family Research, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Eric T. Klopack: Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
Sierra E. Carter: Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA
Robert A. Philibert: College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Ronald L. Simons: Department of Sociology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Frederick X. Gibbons: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
Mei Ling Ong: Center for Family Research, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Meg Gerrard: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
Man-Kit Lei: Department of Sociology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: In a sample of 685 late middle-aged Black adults (M age at 2019 = 57.17 years), we examined the effects of loneliness and per capita income on accelerated aging using a newly developed DNA-methylation based index: the DunedinPACE. First, using linear, mixed effects regression in a growth curve framework, we found that change in DunedinPACE was dependent on age, with a linear model best fitting the data (b = 0.004, p < 0.001), indicating that average pace of change increased among older participants. A quadratic effect was also tested, but was non-significant. Beyond the effect of age, both change in loneliness (b = 0.009, p < 0.05) and change in per capita income (b = −0.016, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with change in DunedinPACE across an 11-year period, accounting for significant between person variability observed in the unconditional model. Including non-self-report indices of smoking and alcohol use did not reduce the association of loneliness or per capita income with DunedinPACE. However, change in smoking was strongly associated with change in DunedinPACE such that those reducing their smoking aged less rapidly than those continuing to smoke. In addition, both loneliness and per capita income were associated with DunedinPACE after controlling for variation in cell-types.

Keywords: DunedinPACE; loneliness; aging; stress; per capita income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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