Social support and epigenetic aging at the intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender: findings from NHANES 1999–2002
•The connection of social support and epigenetic aging varies markedly by person.•Sufficient emotional support is linked to slower epigenetic aging among Black men.•Having close friends was associated with slower epigenetic aging among Black women.•Epigenetic aging was slower among married Black and Mexican American men.•Hannum and Weidner clocks were the most sensitive to social support variability.
Authors
- Nicole Gladish (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6039-7001)
- Belinda L. Needham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5939-2027)
- Andrés Cárdenas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2284-3298)
- Hanyang Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3273-9777)
- David H. Rehkopf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7597-6513)
Institutions
- Palo Alto University (US)
- VA Palo Alto Health Care System (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Stanford Health Care (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- SSM - Population Health
- Published
- 2025-12-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101892
- Primary Topic
- Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00