Social mobility and biological aging among older adults in the United States

Abstract

Lower socioeconomic status is associated with faster biological aging, the gradual and progressive decline in system integrity that accumulates with advancing age. Efforts to promote upward social mobility may therefore extend healthy lifespan. However, recent studies suggest that upward mobility may also have biological costs related to the stresses of crossing social boundaries. We tested associations of life-course social mobility with biological aging using data from participants in the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Venous Blood Study who provided blood-chemistry (n = 9,255) and/or DNA methylation (DNAm) data (n = 3,976). We quantified social mobility from childhood to later-life using data on childhood family characteristics, educational attainment, and wealth accumulation. We quantified biological aging using three DNA methylation “clocks” and three blood-chemistry algorithms. We observed substantial social mobility among study participants. Those who achieved upward mobility exhibited less-advanced and slower biological aging. Associations of upward mobility with less-advanced and slower aging were consistent for blood-chemistry and DNAm measures of biological aging and were similar for men and women and for Black and White Americans (Pearson-r effect-sizes ∼0.2 for blood-chemistry measures and the DNAm GrimAge clock and DunedinPoAm pace-of-aging measures; effect-sizes were smaller for the DNAm PhenoAge clock). Analysis restricted to educational mobility suggested differential effects by racial identity; mediating links between educational mobility and healthy aging may be disrupted by structural racism. In contrast, mobility producing accumulation of wealth appeared to benefit White and Black Americans equally, suggesting economic intervention to reduce wealth inequality may have potential to heal disparities in healthy aging.

Social mobility across the lifecourse and DNA methylation age acceleration in adults in the UK

“…For our first generation algorithm, our data do not accord with previous reports of the association of social mobility with age acceleration, that is we observe positive age acceleration association with upwards mobility, which is not in the same direction as previously reported 24 , 31 , 32 , where our data are statistically significant. This may be for a number of reasons: the analytic method we used which sought to separate mobility from origin and destination SEP 24 , 31 , 32 ; the measure of social position used in the analyses 32 and the measures of accelerated age used 32 . There is a wide body of literature on social mobility and broader measures of health; it is possible that the wider social mobility literature is mixed due to the failure to examine it independently of origin and destination SEP 36 , 37 .…”

“…The second generation measures were created to be predictive of mortality and are more reflective of biological age 35 . For our first generation algorithm, our data do not accord with previous reports of the association of social mobility with age acceleration, that is we observe positive age acceleration association with upwards mobility, which is not in the same direction as previously reported 24 , 31 , 32 , where our data are statistically significant. This may be for a number of reasons: the analytic method we used which sought to separate mobility from origin and destination SEP 24 , 31 , 32 ; the measure of social position used in the analyses 32 and the measures of accelerated age used 32 .…”

Association of Race and Poverty Status With DNA Methylation–Based Age

“…The diminishing returns hypothesis, which has been validated in the literature, posits that African American adults do not experience the same health benefits of higher SES as White adults in the US. For example, the racial nonequivalence of SES-related health benefits has been documented for college completion, the risk of metabolic syndrome, the costs of social mobility, and biological aging . In fact, the SES gradient associated with biological aging is only partially due to health behaviors, again emphasizing that epigenetic aging is modulated by unmeasured stressful social conditions as well as genetic risk …”

“…For example, the racial nonequivalence of SES-related health benefits has been documented for college completion, the risk of metabolic syndrome, the costs of social mobility, and biological aging. 40,41 In fact, the SES gradient associated with biological aging is only partially due to health behaviors, again emphasizing that epigenetic aging is modulated by unmeasured stressful social conditions as well as genetic risk. 13 The results from previous HANDLS studies [42][43][44][45][46][47] that focused on poverty status were not completely concordant with the DunedinPACE data.…”

Educational Mobility, the Pace of Biological Aging, and Lifespan in the Framingham Heart Study

“…We recently showed that DunedinPACE is accelerated in individuals with low levels of education, and slowed in those with higher levels of education (15,16). In this study, we build on these observations to test the hypothesis that higher educational attainment promotes longevity by slowing the pace of aging.…”