Neighborhood Disadvantage, Parenting, And Dna Methylation During Childhood

Authors

• Malcolm Barker-Kamps, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Advisor(s)

Sylvie Mrug

Committee Member(s)

Burel Goodin
Chrisopher Henrich
Hemant Tiwari
Jeffery Walker

School

College of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Dissertation

Department (new version)

Psychology

Date of Award

9-9-2024

Abstract

Being raised in a disadvantaged neighborhood increases the risk of adult obesity, chronic inflammation, and epigenetic aging even when adjusting for family socioeconomic status (SES). Because little is understood regarding the timing of these outcomes through development and possible moderating effects of the family environment, this project investigated the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and DNA methylation in children and whether this association varies across child age, parenting behaviors, or neighborhood cohesion. The study included 112 parents (Mage=27.5; SD=1.06) and 160 children, ages 0-14 (Mage =3.89, SD=3.29; 54% female; 90% African American; 10% White), from the Birmingham Youth Violence Study. Neighborhood poverty was measured from the 2020 U.S. Census, while neighborhood disorder and parental behaviors were measured by parents’ reports. DNA methylation index scores were estimated from methylation values derived from the child’s saliva. A hierarchical linear regression tested the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage, parenting behavior, and neighborhood cohesion on DNA methylation index scores, while controlling for the child’s age, sex, race, BMI z-score, smoking exposure, cell proportions, family SES, and family clustering. Step 1 included neighborhood disadvantage while Step 2 included interactions between neighborhood disadvantage and child age. A separate model investigated parenting and neighborhood cohesion as a moderator with neighborhood disadvantage. Missing data was handled with Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML), which was used to preserve sample size and minimize bias when data was missing at random. Parental nurturance uniquely predicted lower methylation age, and neighborhood poverty only predicted higher CRP methylation when combined with parental harsh discipline. The results suggest that nurturing parenting behaviors may inoculate children against the adverse effects of neighborhood disadvantage on health during development.

ProQuest ID

https://proquest.com/docview/3101878942