Maternal Education and Telomeres? A Potential Disadvantage from the Start?

Although we would like to believe that every child begins with an equal chance at pursuing a healthy future filled with an abundance of knowledge, this may not be the case as demonstrated by the research conducted by Dr. Daniel A. Hackman on the relationship between socioeconomic position and the health of children. Dr. Hackman felt the need to examine socioeconomic position due to its inevitable nature to have an effect on many aspects of life such as access to social resources or general life opportunities in the future. Additionally, the complexity that socioeconomic position encompasses, where it isn’t just about money, but resource availability, parental knowledge, neighborhood environment, made the topic that much more interesting for Dr. Hackman to delve into. For his studies, Dr. Hackman had primarily two areas of interest, executive function and stress reactivity.

In his first study, Dr. Hackman focused on the idea that parental care may play a role in stress reactivity. Using the Trier social stress test, Dr. Hackman’s research team measured the amount of cortisol in the participants’ saliva samples and the results were most consistent with either his emergent/cumulative or child-adolescent persistent models which both suggest a potential earlier childhood origin and relevance in childhood. Through the results of his first study, Dr. Hackman was able to conclude that lower parental reactivity predicted a more “blunted” stress response in that children were more likely to show a lack of physiological mobilization which may lead to risks in health later on.

The second study he worked on placed much emphasis on working memory because of its importance in academic progress, health behaviors, and control over emotions. For this second study, Dr. Hackman examined the relationship between parental education and working memory and the results showed that differences in working memory due to varying amounts of parental education could be seen both early on in development and towards the end of adolescence. Now, while the differences were pretty consistent, they were not massive. The association of working memory and parental education exhibited the child-adolescent persistent model which suggested an earlier childhood origin for the impacts perhaps maybe even before the age of 10 which could have health implications later in life.

Lastly, in his third study, Dr. Hackman looked at the association between working memory and income and the results revealed that the differences in working memory maintained the same rate of change, implying a closeness to the child-adolescent persistent model, thus, an earlier childhood origin for the impact. With the information from his studies, Dr. Hackman hopes to find more information about other mediators of the differences seen as well as possible areas where intervention or even prevention could be incorporated.

Now, in relation to the impact socioeconomic status may have on childhood development, I came across an interesting article highlighting the potential relationship between the lengths of telomeres in children and the education level of mothers. According to the article “Early Study Links Mothers’ Education level to Telomere Length in Newborns”, author Nicholas Weiler discusses the findings of a study conducted by Janet Wojcicki, PhD, MPH at UCSF. At present, medical researchers are well-aware of the fact that telomeres can shorten due to stress and therefore, may contribute to a “shorter lifespan” or even an “increased risk for…diabetes, obesity, and cancer” (Weiler). However, the potential for telomeres of children to shorten or lengthen based on their mothers’ education levels is a bit more surprising. The mother’s education levels may have had an effect due to the higher tendency to have more stress as a result of lower education levels which are often connected with lower socioeconomic positions. Dr. Wojcicki’s study was conducted with smaller sample group focused on Latina women and their children. Their results revealed that increased maternal education, meaning an education that was past the high school level, resulted in a longer TL by around 500 base pairs. The reported p-value was less than 0.01, suggesting statistical significance (Wojcicki, Olveda, Heyman, Elwan, Lin, Blackburn, and Epel). Thus, Dr. Wojcicki’s research was able to conclude that increased maternal education may have a positive effect on TL length. The results of the study have led researchers to consider “providing resources even earlier” so as to compensate for the stresses mother with lower education may face and the corresponding TL shortening that could occur (Weiler).

Moreover, the results of Dr. Wojcicki’s study may be even more significant because earlier this year, another research team at the University of Sydney was able to publish their findings on the relationship between the length of telomeres in early childhood and the thickness of arterial walls in early childhood. The study was able to conclude that the shorter telomeres in younger children could serve as predictions for one of the earlier signs of vascular disease, “increased arterial thickness”, by as early as age eight (Weiler). Therefore, if future studies could link the early information we have about the potential link between socioeconomic status and early childhood telomere length, and the kinds of health risks that can be predicted through examination of telomere lengths, the medical field may be able to work towards creating more preventative measures so as to limit these potentially detrimental conditions.

Link to blog:

Works Cited

Cartoon image of differences in likelihood of catching a cold in children depending on socioeconomic position. Digital image. MedicalXPress. Carnegie Mellon University, 1 Nov. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-11-children-socioeconomic-status-susceptible-colds.html>.

Hackman, Daniel A., and Martha J. Farah. "Socioeconomic Status and the Developing Brain." Neuroscience Seminar Box Site, 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <https://luc.app.box.com/neuroscienceseminar/1/5608531521/45509088401/1>.

Hackman, Daniel A., Laura M. Betancourt, Nancy L. Brodsky, Lara L. Kobrin, Hallam Hurt, and Martha J. Farah. "Selective Impact of Early Parental Responsivity on Adolescent Stress Reactivity." Neuroscience Seminar Box, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2015. <https://luc.app.box.com/neuroscienceseminar/1/5608531521/45509095665/1>.

Skilton, Michael R., Shirley Nakhla, Julian G. Ayer, Jason A. Harmer, Brett G. Toelle, Stephen R. Leeder, Graham Jones, Guy B. Marks, and David S. Celemajer. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 24 Sept. 2015. Web. 09 Dec. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26405259>.

Weiler, Nicholas. "Early Study Links Mothers' Education Level to Telomere Length in Newborns." UC San Francisco. UCSF News Center, 4 Dec. 2015. Web. 09 Dec. 2015. <https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/12/345286/early-study-links-mothers-education-level-to-telomere>.

                                                                                                                    

Wojcicki, J. M., R. Olveda, M. B. Heyman, D. Elwan, J. Lin, E. Blackburn, and E. Epel. "Cord Blood Telomere Length in Latino Infants: Relation with Maternal Education and Infant Sex." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 3 Dec. 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <http://www.nature.com/jp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/jp2015178a.html>.