Associations between epigenetic age acceleration and longitudinal measures of psychosocioeconomic stress and status

Relationships between epigenetic aging markers and psychosocial variables such as socioeconomic status and stress have been well-documented, but are often examined cross-sectionally or retrospectively, and have tended to focus on objective markers of SES or major life events. Here, we examined associations between psychosocial variables, including measures of socioeconomic status and social stress, and epigenetic aging markers in adulthood, using longitudinal data spanning three decades from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. The largest effects were observed for epigenetic markers of change in health, such as DunedinPACE and GrimAge, and for associations involving education, income, net assets, general social stress, inequality-related stress, and financial stress. Analyses of polygenic indices suggests that at least in the case of education, the link to epigenetic aging cannot be accounted for by common genetic variants.