Perspectives on the Future of the Sociology of Aging (2012) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
6 Opportunities and Challenges in the Study of Biosocial Dynamics in Healthy Aging
6 Opportunities and Challenges in the Study of Biosocial Dynamics in Healthy Aging
Pages 120-143
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From page 120... ...
Research on the biological correlates of social status is reviewed to highlight promising methodological approaches for identifying biosocial connections and for probing biosocial theories of aging. Important methodological and analytical challenges that need to be addressed to significantly advance knowledge of biosocial processes involved in healthy aging are also discussed.
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From page 121... ...
The result has been an exponentially increasing number of studies examining biosocial process that play a role in healthy aging. Occurring contemporaneously with the increasing examination of biosocial connections in epidemiologic investigations, researchers in the fields of social and health psychology have been identifying the biological correlates of social factors in smaller-scale investigations with more fine-grained measures of social and biological processes than is typically possible in largescale epidemiologic studies.
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From page 122... ...
. The wear and tear on body tissues and systems that can result from such allostatic states is referred to as "allostatic load" and represents one model of how social conditions that engage allostatic processes may increase risk of poor health.
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From page 123... ...
In this section, the biological correlates of social status are highlighted to provide a flavor of the gains, the promises, and the challenges of biosocial investigations. One reason for this selection is that the connection between social status, most often conceptualized as some form of socioeconomic status (SES)
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From page 124... ...
A number of life course frameworks have been proposed to explain the role of biosocial processes in healthy aging (Ben-Shlomo & Kuh, 2002; Pollitt, Rose, & Kaufman, 2005) , with sensitive or critical period and accumulation of risk models receiving the most attention.
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From page 125... ...
Another life course model receiving growing attention in biosocial investigations is the accumulation of risk model. As applied to biosocial investigations, this model posits that greater overall exposure to adverse social conditions (e.g., low SES)
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From page 126... ...
Although still fairly rare, such efforts are taking the form of the addition of small substudies within larger-scale survey investigations in which more detailed assessments of biosocial processes are collected on subsets of participants. Exploring Biosocial Connections in the Wild One notable form of this substudy approach is the effort to collect data on biosocial processes in individuals' natural social environments, as they navigate the challenges and social interactions of daily life.
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From page 127... ...
. Similar SES variations in diurnal cortisol activity have been observed in other large cohort studies (Cohen et al., 2006; Hajat et al., 2010; Kumari et al., 2010)
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From page 128... ...
Another advantage of the laboratory challenge paradigm is the opportunity to more carefully pinpoint the psychological processes that might underlie SES variations in physiological reactivity. Chen and colleagues have documented that low SES children are more likely to interpret ambiguous social situations as threatening than high SES children (Chen, Langer, Raphaelson, & Matthews, 2004; Chen & Matthews, 1999)
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From page 129... ...
have labeled this a "defensive" phenotype and suggest that SES adversity experiences early in life "program" these biological systems during sensitive or critical periods of early childhood, leading to heightened susceptibility in adulthood for the development of the many conditions associated with greater inflammatory and HPA activity. Are such processes a social form of antagonistic pleiotropy, whereby these biopsychosocial processes confer reproductive or survival benefits in young adulthood but increase risk of ill-being in later adulthood?
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From page 130... ...
. The promising methodological approaches highlighted above, including identification of upstream physiological modulators and assessing biological correlates of social conditions in the lab and in the wild, may well help us better understand social disparities in flourishing and thriving and the implications for healthy aging.
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From page 131... ...
But most biosocial processes, even those that may be most tightly coupled during narrow windows of development, operate in a bidirectional, iterative process over time, nested within multiple levels of influences from the most micro biological to the most macro social. Biosocial studies of health and aging have particularly neglected measurement of bidirectional flows of influence between individuals and upward to larger units of social organization.
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From page 132... ...
One important focus for the future is the exploration of life course models of biosocial connections, including a greater understanding of the range of social conditions linked to biological processes, the characteristics of biosocial interactions at different phases of the life course, and how such processes operate across time to influence healthy aging. A second important focus for the future is a better understanding of the interaction of social and demographic factors, at both micro and macro levels, in shaping associations with biological factors.
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From page 133... ...
The methodological and analytical challenges of adequately capturing the multilevel, bidirectional, and temporal characteristics of biosocial processes are also daunting. However, such challenges are not unique to study of biosocial processes and are characteristic of the study of many risk factors of unhealthy aging.
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From page 134... ...
Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study British Birth Cohort Studies (e.g., 1958, 1963) Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Aging Study (CRELES)
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From page 135... ...
PREPUBLICATION COPY -- UNCORRECTED PROOFS FIGURE 6-1 Conceptual model of potential pathways through which social status is linked to health. SOURCE: Gruenewald et al.
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From page 136... ...
. 0.40 0.35 0.30 Mean system risk score 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 SNS PNS HPA INF CV MET - G MET - L Lowest 2nd 3rd 4th Highest SES disadvantage quintile: 6-17
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From page 137... ...
. Association of cardiovascular disease risk factors with socioeconomic position during childhood and during adulthood.
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From page 138... ...
. Socioeconomic status, race, and diurnal cortisol decline in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA)
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From page 139... ...
. Association of socioeconomic status with inflammation markers in black and white men and women in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA)
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From page 140... ...
. Socioeconomic status is related to urinary catecholamines in the coronary artery risk development in young adults (CARDIA)
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From page 141... ...
. Psychological perspectives on pathways linking socioeconomic status and physical health.
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From page 142... ...
. Socioeconomic status and health: is parasympathetic nervous system activity an intervening mechanism?
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From page 143... ...
. Stress responsivity and socioeconomic status: a mechanism for increased cardiovascular disease risk?
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