Muna Aikins

Previously presented by Yayouk Willems and @laraffington.bsky.social at a #GENEAmsterdam symposium and out now:

"Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health and epigenetic biological aging across childhood and adolescence" by @munaaikins.bsky.social

Summary: lnkd.in/eyT9jrrQ

10/10. 📣 What’s next?
We need better tools to measure racism and biological aging, data that centers the lived experiences of marginalized groups, and a deeper understanding of how inequality gets under the skin.
Think intersectionally. Intervene early and act before disparities become entrenched.

9/10. 📝Our study finds that the link between mental and physical health - both of which are racialized – emerges in the first two decades of life. 🔊 Programs promoting racial health equity must address the psychological and physical impacts of structural racism in children.

8/10. These two processes are connected.
📈 Longitudinal increases in internalizing and externalizing behavior were correlated with longitudinal increases in biological aging. Racial disparities in biological aging persisted even after accounting for perinatal, postnatal and socioeconomic factors.

7/10. 🧬 By age 9, Black children, those living in more racially segregated neighborhoods, and those more affected by colorism already showed more advanced biological aging. This biological aging continued to accelerate through adolescence, with disparities widening by age 15.

6/10. We found:
Mental health disparities begin early. Racially marginalized children—including Black, Latinx, and Multiracial youth—showed higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors across childhood and adolescence. These patterns diverged over time, esp. during adolescence.

5/10. We leveraged a prospective birth cohort study in preregistered analyses of N=4,898 participants from the Future of Families & Child Wellbeing Study, of which N=2,039 had repeated DNA methylation at ages 9 and 15 years.

4/10. In this study, we examined the emergence of racial disparities in mental health and epigenetic biological aging across childhood and adolescence. 🧬🔬

3/10. 📈Heightened daily life stress stemming from racism may amplify the risk of lower mental health and contribute to higher levels of chronic inflammation and accelerated multi-system biological aging. 📊

2/10. 📚A large body of evidence shows striking racial disparities in mental and physical health—disparities that begin early in life and persist across the lifespan. Despite growing awareness, these gaps remain. We set out to understand how racism shapes both mind and body in young people over time.

Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health and epigenetic biological aging across childhood and adolescence - Molecular Psychiatry Molecular Psychiatry - Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health and epigenetic biological aging across childhood and adolescence

New #MPRGBiosocial paper in Molecular Psychiatry:
“Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health & epigenetic biological aging across childhood & adolescence”

w/ @yayoukwillems @denizfraemke.bsky.social @laraffington.bsky.social
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Blog Post: lnkd.in/dKsgagYc