Community Threat, Positive Parenting, and Accelerated Epigenetic Aging: Longitudinal Links from Childhood to Adolescence

Early life adversity (ELA) has been linked to accelerated epigenetic aging. While positive parenting is hypothesized to buffer the effects of ELA, its role in mitigating epigenetic age acceleration remains unclear. Data from 2,039 children (49.7% female; 46.7% Black, 26.5% Hispanic, 19% White non-Hispanic) in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study were included. Home threat, community threat, and parenting were measured from ages 3 to 9 (2001– 2010). Epigenetic age acceleration was assessed at ages 9 and 15 (2007–2017). Positive parenting reduced the pace of epigenetic aging in contexts of low, but not high, community threat (β = .026, p = .039). Interventions across multiple socioecological systems may be necessary to prevent the biological embedding of ELA.