While scientists have long known that living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with biological symptoms of accelerated aging, emotional distress accounts for a significant portion of these effects, researchers found in a recent study.
Consistent with a chains-of-risk framework – the theory that later-life health conditions are triggered by sequential, linked exposures earlier in life – the findings support our hypothesis that prolonged exposure to contextual socioeconomic disadvantage accelerates one’s biological age, and that some but not all of this effect operates through increases in psychological symptoms.”
Christina Kamis, first author, professor of sociology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The study’s sample population comprised more than 1,440 people living in…