Associations between early life parent-child separation and shortened telomere length and psychopathological outcomes during adolescence

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 May:103:195-202. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.01.021. Epub 2019 Jan 21.

Abstract

Background: Given the ethical limitations of exposing children to experimentally manipulated adverse experiences, evidence of the effects of parent-child separation on subsequent psychopathology are based mostly on animal studies. Left-behind children phenomenon resulting from rural-urban mobility in China offers unique "natural experiments" to explore the long-term physical and mental health consequences of parent-child separation in childhood.

Objective: To test the associations between parent-child separation with telomere length (TL) and psychopathology during adolescence.

Method: A total of 710 adolescents (age: M = 16.86, SD = 1.52) were recruited from local schools in rural area of Fuyang, one of the top inland areas for outward migration in Anhui province, China. Parent-child separation was collected through face to face interview. The MacArthur Health & Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ) was used to assess internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure buccal TL.

Results: Nearly 60% (399/695) of the participants experienced separation from both parents. Childhood or persistent separation from parents was associated with increased internalizing symptoms (childhood: β = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.23; persistent: β = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.31), increased externalizing symptoms (childhood: β = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.32; persistent: β = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.35) and shorter telomere length (childhood: β = -0.16, 95% CI: -0.26, -0.05; persistent: β = -0.13, 95% CI: -0.22, -0.03). Shortened TL was estimated to explain 15.2% and 12.7% of the total effect of separation on internalizing and externalizing symptoms, while internalizing and externalizing symptoms explained 23.4% and 12.3% of the effect of separation on shortened TL.

Conclusion: Childhood and persistent parent-child separation, as experienced by rural left-behind children in China, associates with increased vulnerability for psychopathological symptoms and makers of cellular aging. The challenge for future research is to determine whether short telomere length is in fact a long-term consequence or an underlying vulnerability factor for future mental disorders.

Keywords: Adolescents; Biological aging; Childhood adversity; Parent-child separation; Psychopathology; Telomere length.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences
  • Cellular Senescence / genetics
  • Child
  • Child, Abandoned / psychology*
  • China
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Maternal Deprivation
  • Mental Disorders / etiology
  • Mental Disorders / genetics
  • Mental Health / ethnology
  • Mental Health / trends
  • Parents
  • Paternal Deprivation
  • Stress, Psychological / genetics*
  • Stress, Psychological / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Telomere / genetics
  • Telomere / metabolism
  • Telomere Homeostasis / genetics*
  • Telomere Shortening / genetics
  • Telomere Shortening / physiology