Health Disparities
Using the Future of Families & Child Wellbeing Study to Test for Racial Disparities in Maternal Telomere Length Brittney Boakye* Brittney Boakye Rebecca Fix
Introduction: The weathering hypothesis postulates that socioeconomic disadvantage and chronic stress lead to accelerated biological aging, particularly in Black women. Telomere length can serve as an indicator of biological aging. This study examined the association between socioeconomic status, psychosocial factors, and telomere length among mothers. Methods: The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) Dataset was used to explore the relationship between maternal race and telomere length with a sample size of 2,984 mothers. The primary outcome variable was log-transformed telomere length, reported in kilobases (kb). Predictor variables were race, age, sociodemographic variables (education, poverty level) and psychosocial variables (maternal stress, maternal depression, social support, child’s mother and biological father relationship). Multivariable linear regression was used to estimate the association sociodemographic and psychosocial variables had with telomere length. Models were also stratified by race. All analyses were performed using SPSS version 29.0.2.0. Results & Discussion: Results depict a statistically significant association between race and telomere length, where Black mothers have significantly longer telomere lengths than White mothers (B=0.064, p-value=<0.001). Mothers who completed high school had significantly longer telomere lengths than those who did not complete high school (B=0.054, p-value=.036). Linear regression findings on sociodemographic associations with telomere length, including racial differences, were inconsistent with previous literature. Future research is needed to explore associations among Black women in a more nationally representative sample that considers resilience.