The DOI matches its Crossref record; 186 of the 187 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 1 are not checked yet.
An Intricate Dance: Life Experience, Multisystem Resiliency, and Rate of Telomere Decline Throughout the Lifespan
Open accessAbstract
Accumulation of life stressors predicts accelerated development and progression of diseases of aging. Telomere length, the DNA‐based biomarker indicating cellular aging, is a mechanism of disease development, and is shortened in a dose response fashion by duration and severity of life stressor exposures. Telomere length captures the interplay between genetics, life experiences and psychosocial and behavioral factors. Over the past several years, psychological stress resilience, healthy lifestyle factors, and social connections have been associated with longer telomere length and it appears that these factors can protect individuals from stress‐induced telomere shortening. In the current review, we highlight these findings, and illustrate that combining these ‘multisystem resiliency’ factors may strengthen our understanding of aging, as these powerful factors are often neglected in studies of aging. In naturalistic studies, the effects of chronic stress exposure on biological pathways are rarely main effects, but rather a complex interplay between adversity and resiliency factors. We suggest that chronic stress effects can be best understood by directly testing if the deleterious effects of stress on biological aging processes, in this case the cell allostasis measure of telomere shortening, are mitigated in individuals with high levels of multisystem resiliency. Without attending to such interactions, stress effects are often masked and missed. Taking account of the cluster of positive buffering factors that operate across the lifespan will take us a step further in understanding healthy aging. While these ideas are applied to the telomere length literature for illustration, the concept of multisystem resiliency might apply to aging broadly, from cellular to systemic health.
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“Healthy behaviors, on the other hand, dampen the negative consequences of the repeated acute psychological and physiological stress response (Puterman and Epel, 2012).”
From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Puterman and Epel, 2012
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“Poor emotion regulation is associated with autonomic arousal, CVD, and early mortality (Gross, 1998; Gross & John, 2003; John & Gross, 2004), and may be at the heart of personality traits such as hostility, pessimism, and negative affectivity – traits associated with short telomeres.”
BackgroundChild abuse: Adolescent records vs. adult recall
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“Poor emotion regulation is associated with autonomic arousal, CVD, and early mortality (Gross, 1998; Gross & John, 2003; John & Gross, 2004), and may be at the heart of personality traits such as hostility, pessimism, and negative affectivity – traits associated with short telomeres.”
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Research works printed but not linked: 5
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- Kiecolt‐Glaser J. K, 2008, How stress kills: New perspectives on stress and inflammation, Psychology & Health, 23, 16
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Sorted by citations
Items 101–106 of 106
Robles, T. F. (2019) · Emerging issues in family and individual resilience · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-05952-1_8
Effect of Environmental and Occupational Exposures on Human Telomere Length and Aging: A Review
Chandani, J. K., Gandhi, N., & Deshmukh, S. D. (2020) · Advances in intelligent systems and computing · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-49339-4_13
Birkenhead, K. L., Kuballa, A., Lovell, G. P., Barr, S. I., & Solomon, C. (2021) · Nutrition and Healthy Aging · doi:10.3233/nha-200090
McClafferty, H. H., & Kemper, K. J. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-18096-0_149
Saber, A. A. (2026) · Precision Nutrition · doi:10.1097/pn9.0000000000000133
Biomarkers of stress across biological systems: conceptual and measurement perspectives
Weiss, S. J., El-Refaay, S. M. M., Keeton, V. F., Longoria, K., Adynski, H., & Leung, C. Y. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1895140
Metadata
- Authors
- Puterman, E., & Epel, E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Venue
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-11
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 807-825
- ISSN
- 1751-9004 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3496269
- OpenAlex
- W2109862117
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 187
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 5.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- University of California, San Francisco
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG030424)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K99HL109247, R01HL108821)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- telomere length, telomere shortening, chronic stress, psychological resilience, healthy aging, cellular aging, allostasis, social connectedness, healthy lifestyle factors, life events, lifespan development
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