Abstract
BackgroundThere have been several reports suggesting that adverse childhood experiences such as physical maltreatment and long institutionalization influence telomere length. However, there has been no study examining the relationship of telomere length with variations in parental rearing. In the present study, we examined the relationship of leukocyte telomere length with parental rearing in healthy subjects.MethodsThe subjects were 581 unrelated healthy Japanese subjects. Perceived parental rearing was assessed by the Parental Bonding Instrument consisting of the care and protection factors. Leukocyte relative telomere length was determined by a quantitative real-time PCR method for a ratio of telomere/single copy gene.ResultsIn the multiple regression analyses, shorter telomere length in males was related to lower scores of paternal care (β = 0.139, p < 0.05), while that in females was related to lower scores of maternal care (β = 0.195, p < 0.01).ConclusionThe present study suggests that there is linear relationship between parental care and telomere length which covers both lower and higher ends of parental care, and that the effects of parental care on telomere length are gender-specific in parents and offsprings.
Highlights
There have been several reports suggesting that adverse childhood experiences such as physical maltreatment and long institutionalization influence telomere length
Recent studies have focused on the association between telomere length and early-life environment, and these studies have suggested that adverse experiences such as physical abuse and long institutionalization accelerate telomere length shortening [8,13,14], with inconsistent findings [15,16]
The present study is the first to show the linear relationship between parental care and telomere length which covers both lower and higher ends of parental care
Summary
There have been several reports suggesting that adverse childhood experiences such as physical maltreatment and long institutionalization influence telomere length. There has been no study examining the relationship of telomere length with variations in parental rearing. We examined the relationship of leukocyte telomere length with parental rearing in healthy subjects. It has been reported that telomere length is influenced by a wide range of factors such as age, gender, race, smoking, physical activity, socioeconomic status, obesity, multivitamin intake, alcohol consumption, and hormone replacement therapy [2], findings are inconsistent [9]. There has been few study examining the relationship of telomere length with variations in parental rearing which has a continuum ranging from a positive pole to a negative pole [17]
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