Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults

Y. E. Willems; A. deSteiguer; P. T. Tanksley; L. Vinnik; D. Fraemke; A. Okbay; D. Richter; G. G. Wagner; R. Hertwig; P. Koellinger; E. M. Tucker-Drob; K. P. Harden; Laurel Raffington

doi:10.1186/s13148-024-01637-7

Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults

Y. E. Willems, A. deSteiguer, P. T. Tanksley, L. Vinnik, D. Fraemke, A. Okbay, D. Richter, G. G. Wagner, R. Hertwig, P. Koellinger, E. M. Tucker-Drob, K. P. Harden, Laurel Raffington^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Self-control is a personality dimension that is associated with better physical health and a longer lifespan. Here, we examined (1) whether self-control is associated with buccal and saliva DNA-methylation (DNAm) measures of biological aging quantified in children, adolescents, and adults, and (2) whether biological aging measured in buccal DNAm is associated with self-reported health. Following preregistered analyses, we computed two DNAm measures of advanced biological age (principal-component PhenoAge and GrimAge Acceleration) and a DNAm measure of pace of aging (DunedinPACE) in buccal samples from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP-G[ene], n = 1058, age range 0–72, M_age = 42.65) and saliva samples from the Texas Twin Project (TTP, n = 1327, age range 8–20, M_age = 13.50). We found that lower self-control was associated with advanced biological age in older adults (PhenoAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.51, −.17], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.49, −.19], p <.001), but not young adults, adolescents or children. These associations remained statistically robust even after correcting for possible confounders such as socioeconomic contexts, BMI, or genetic correlates of low self-control. Moreover, a faster pace of aging and advanced biological age measured in buccal DNAm were associated with self-reported disease (PhenoAge Acceleration: β =.13 [.06,.19], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration: β =.19 [.12,.26], p <.001; DunedinPACE: β =.09 [.02,.17], p =.01). However, effect sizes were weaker than observations in blood, suggesting that customization of DNAm aging measures to buccal and saliva tissues may be necessary. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that self-control is associated with health via pathways that accelerate biological aging in older adults.

Original language	English
Article number	22
Journal	Clinical epigenetics
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-024-01637-7
Publication status	Published - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. KPH and EMTD are Faculty Research Associates of the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which is supported by a NIH Grant P2CHD042849. EMTD is a member of the Center on Aging and Population Sciences (CAPS) at The University of Texas at Austin, which is supported by NIH Grant P30AG066614. KPH and EMTD were also supported by Jacobs Foundation Research Fellowships. EMTD received support from RF1AG073593. YW and LR followed the workshop on epigenetics for social scientists which was supported by the Grant R25 AG053227. The funding bodies had no role in the design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the study. PK received funding from the University of Amsterdam for SOEP-G. RH and GGW received funding for SOEP-G from DFG and the Max Planck Society.

Funders	Funder number
National Institutes of Health	P30AG066614, P2CHD042849
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Jacobs Foundation	R25 AG053227
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Keywords

Biological aging
DNA-methylation
Health
Life span
Pace of aging
Self-control

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Willems, Y. E., deSteiguer, A., Tanksley, P. T., Vinnik, L., Fraemke, D., Okbay, A., Richter, D., Wagner, G. G., Hertwig, R., Koellinger, P., Tucker-Drob, E. M., Harden, K. P., & Raffington, L. (2024). Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults. Clinical epigenetics, 16(1), Article 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-024-01637-7

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title = "Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults",

abstract = "Self-control is a personality dimension that is associated with better physical health and a longer lifespan. Here, we examined (1) whether self-control is associated with buccal and saliva DNA-methylation (DNAm) measures of biological aging quantified in children, adolescents, and adults, and (2) whether biological aging measured in buccal DNAm is associated with self-reported health. Following preregistered analyses, we computed two DNAm measures of advanced biological age (principal-component PhenoAge and GrimAge Acceleration) and a DNAm measure of pace of aging (DunedinPACE) in buccal samples from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP-G[ene], n = 1058, age range 0–72, Mage = 42.65) and saliva samples from the Texas Twin Project (TTP, n = 1327, age range 8–20, Mage = 13.50). We found that lower self-control was associated with advanced biological age in older adults (PhenoAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.51, −.17], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.49, −.19], p <.001), but not young adults, adolescents or children. These associations remained statistically robust even after correcting for possible confounders such as socioeconomic contexts, BMI, or genetic correlates of low self-control. Moreover, a faster pace of aging and advanced biological age measured in buccal DNAm were associated with self-reported disease (PhenoAge Acceleration: β =.13 [.06,.19], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration: β =.19 [.12,.26], p <.001; DunedinPACE: β =.09 [.02,.17], p =.01). However, effect sizes were weaker than observations in blood, suggesting that customization of DNAm aging measures to buccal and saliva tissues may be necessary. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that self-control is associated with health via pathways that accelerate biological aging in older adults.",

keywords = "Biological aging, DNA-methylation, Health, Life span, Pace of aging, Self-control",

author = "Willems, {Y. E.} and A. deSteiguer and Tanksley, {P. T.} and L. Vinnik and D. Fraemke and A. Okbay and D. Richter and Wagner, {G. G.} and R. Hertwig and P. Koellinger and Tucker-Drob, {E. M.} and Harden, {K. P.} and Laurel Raffington",

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doi = "10.1186/s13148-024-01637-7",

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Willems, YE, deSteiguer, A, Tanksley, PT, Vinnik, L, Fraemke, D, Okbay, A, Richter, D, Wagner, GG, Hertwig, R, Koellinger, P, Tucker-Drob, EM, Harden, KP & Raffington, L 2024, 'Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults', Clinical epigenetics, vol. 16, no. 1, 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-024-01637-7

TY - JOUR

T1 - Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults

AU - Willems, Y. E.

AU - deSteiguer, A.

AU - Tanksley, P. T.

AU - Vinnik, L.

AU - Fraemke, D.

AU - Okbay, A.

AU - Richter, D.

AU - Wagner, G. G.

AU - Hertwig, R.

AU - Koellinger, P.

AU - Tucker-Drob, E. M.

AU - Harden, K. P.

AU - Raffington, Laurel

PY - 2024/12

Y1 - 2024/12

N2 - Self-control is a personality dimension that is associated with better physical health and a longer lifespan. Here, we examined (1) whether self-control is associated with buccal and saliva DNA-methylation (DNAm) measures of biological aging quantified in children, adolescents, and adults, and (2) whether biological aging measured in buccal DNAm is associated with self-reported health. Following preregistered analyses, we computed two DNAm measures of advanced biological age (principal-component PhenoAge and GrimAge Acceleration) and a DNAm measure of pace of aging (DunedinPACE) in buccal samples from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP-G[ene], n = 1058, age range 0–72, Mage = 42.65) and saliva samples from the Texas Twin Project (TTP, n = 1327, age range 8–20, Mage = 13.50). We found that lower self-control was associated with advanced biological age in older adults (PhenoAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.51, −.17], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.49, −.19], p <.001), but not young adults, adolescents or children. These associations remained statistically robust even after correcting for possible confounders such as socioeconomic contexts, BMI, or genetic correlates of low self-control. Moreover, a faster pace of aging and advanced biological age measured in buccal DNAm were associated with self-reported disease (PhenoAge Acceleration: β =.13 [.06,.19], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration: β =.19 [.12,.26], p <.001; DunedinPACE: β =.09 [.02,.17], p =.01). However, effect sizes were weaker than observations in blood, suggesting that customization of DNAm aging measures to buccal and saliva tissues may be necessary. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that self-control is associated with health via pathways that accelerate biological aging in older adults.

AB - Self-control is a personality dimension that is associated with better physical health and a longer lifespan. Here, we examined (1) whether self-control is associated with buccal and saliva DNA-methylation (DNAm) measures of biological aging quantified in children, adolescents, and adults, and (2) whether biological aging measured in buccal DNAm is associated with self-reported health. Following preregistered analyses, we computed two DNAm measures of advanced biological age (principal-component PhenoAge and GrimAge Acceleration) and a DNAm measure of pace of aging (DunedinPACE) in buccal samples from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP-G[ene], n = 1058, age range 0–72, Mage = 42.65) and saliva samples from the Texas Twin Project (TTP, n = 1327, age range 8–20, Mage = 13.50). We found that lower self-control was associated with advanced biological age in older adults (PhenoAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.51, −.17], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration β = −.34, [−.49, −.19], p <.001), but not young adults, adolescents or children. These associations remained statistically robust even after correcting for possible confounders such as socioeconomic contexts, BMI, or genetic correlates of low self-control. Moreover, a faster pace of aging and advanced biological age measured in buccal DNAm were associated with self-reported disease (PhenoAge Acceleration: β =.13 [.06,.19], p <.001; GrimAge Acceleration: β =.19 [.12,.26], p <.001; DunedinPACE: β =.09 [.02,.17], p =.01). However, effect sizes were weaker than observations in blood, suggesting that customization of DNAm aging measures to buccal and saliva tissues may be necessary. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that self-control is associated with health via pathways that accelerate biological aging in older adults.

KW - Biological aging

KW - DNA-methylation

KW - Health

KW - Life span

KW - Pace of aging

KW - Self-control

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SN - 1868-7075

VL - 16

JO - Clinical epigenetics

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ER -

Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults

Abstract

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