We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Parental care influences leukocyte telomere length with gender specificity in parents and offsprings.
- Authors
Masanori Enokido; Akihito Suzuki; Ryoichi Sadahiro; Yoshihiko Matsumoto; Fumikazu Kuwahata; Nana Takahashi; Kaoru Goto; Koichi Otani
- Abstract
Background There 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. Methods The 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. Results In 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). Conclusion The 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.
- Subjects
LEUCOCYTES; TELOMERES; CHILD abuse; POLYMERASE chain reaction; PARENT-child relationships; GENDER specific care
- Publication
BMC Psychiatry, 2014, Vol 14, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1471-244X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1186/s12888-014-0277-9