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Nico Pitney reports that the urban poor in the United States are experiencing accelerated aging at the cellular level, and that chronic stress linked both to income level and racial-ethnic identity is driving this physiological deterioration. Researchers analyzed telomeres, tiny caps at the ends of DNA strands that protect cells from aging prematurely, of poor and lower middle-class black, white, and Mexican residents of Detroit and found that low-income residents of Detroit, regardless of race, have significantly shorter telomeres than the national average. "There are effects of living in high-poverty, racially segregated neighborhoods -- the life experiences people have, the physical exposures, a whole range of things -- that are just not good for your health," says Nobel laureate. Dr. Arline Geronimus, the lead author of the study, described as the most rigorous research of its kind examining how "structurally rooted social processes work through biological mechanisms to impact health." White Detroit residents who were lower-middle-class had the longest telomeres in the study. But the shortest telomeres belonged to poor whites. Black residents had about the same telomere lengths regardless of whether they were poor or lower-middle-class. And poor Mexicans actually had longer telomeres than Mexicans with higher incomes. Geronimus says these findings demonstrate the limitations of standard measures -- like race, income and education level -- typically used to examine health disparities. "We've relied on them too much to be the signifiers of everything that varies in the life experiences of difference racial or ethnic groups in different geographic locations and circumstances."
One co-author of this new study is Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn who helped to discover telomeres, an achievement that won her the Nobel Prize in physiology in 2009. Blackburn ticked off a list of studies in which people's experiences and perceptions directly correlated with their telomere lengths: whether people say they feel stressed or pessimistic; whether they feel racial discrimination towards others or feel discriminated against; whether they have experienced severely negative experiences in childhood, and so on. "These are all really adding up in this quantitative way," says Blackburn. "Once you get a quantitative relationship, then this is science, right?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @04:49PM
Did they also look at how this has long-term affected kids who were bussed into such neighborhoods?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @06:48PM
I know right?
Forced integration is good for whom? And at what expense?
I know the bus company in my town made a pile of loot.
(Score: 4, Funny) by rts008 on Monday May 11 2015, @07:06PM
I have not heard of any studies of that nature, but I would be surprised if none were conducted, given the impact that bussing had on society at the time.
(maybe a wikipedia article on bussing has external links that would get you started)
I can only offer personal anecdotes from my own experiences and direct observations, so YMMV. :-)
I was one of the 'token whites' bussed to a formerly all-black middle school(Malcolm X Middle School) in a small town about 25 miles SW of Wash., DC. IIRC, the town was called Dogpatch, Maryland, or near there.
6th, 7th, and 8th grades I spent there. I not only learned to fight, but came to enjoy it. The first time I was stabbed with a knife was the at the end of the first day, getting on the bus to go home. Every day was school-day long fightclub training session.
And, I met a black kid in my class that shared the same last name(and initials!), and we became close friends, but his older brother and I went at it like crazy(also had same initials! LOL).
Hmm..they sweat like I do, they bleed red like me, we share most likes and dislikes...Ah! A Clue!
In the end, hair color became more significant to me than skin color. This was also how it worked out with most(but NOT all) of my 'white peers' who accompanied me to the school. Interesting times.
Admittedly some became even more racist from the experience, but they were surprising(under the circumstances) a minority of 'us'. I attribute my 'positive learning experience' to my upbringing and childhood role models.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @09:06PM
This is what I would expect. The good comes from "upbringing and childhood role models" while the bad comes from being around a bunch of ruffians at a crap public school.
Very interesting thing that I didn't expect was the moving from racism to hair-ism. I knew there will always be something arbitrarily escalated as a trait to discriminate against but I didn't expect hair. Even minorities discriminate, often worse and more trivial, but that doesn't make for ratings or help the agenda to point out they are just as bad. I guess I would judge more by smell.
Sounds like you turned out mostly alright even though being stabbed is a real good point to leverage for long-term personal racism. Of course then again maybe the seething bitterness has helped you move up the ranks of the clan. Don't know for sure.
<sarcasm>Well at least the minorities turned out better people because you were there.
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Tuesday May 12 2015, @02:03AM
The hair-ism actually had nothing to do with bussing. That came from poor choices dating, and several encounters with some truly psycho blondes in high school. Now to be clear, the level of prejudice is small, but just large enough that since high school I have no interest in dating blondes. (all of my siblings and most of my family are blondes)
I don't understand the reference to 'seething bitterness' that you alluded to. There was none on my part, so I'm not sure what you are getting at there. Those I fought almost never wanted a second go except Reggie, my friends older brother I mentioned. And even with Reggie, there was no bitterness. It quickly became more of a 'friendly competition' for both of us; we frequently hung out after the brawl. At high school, I ran into most of the bunch from middle school, but it was a different situation, respect was earned on both sides, and we all got along pretty well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @01:26PM
The seething bitterness was an alternative outcome or conclusion since I couldn't get the feel for how you actually turned out so I included the statement to leave a large possible range of outcomes.
Your reply cleared up a lot that I couldn't read from the earlier post.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:14AM
Time to bill the state for endangering your health and wasting your time?
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Tuesday May 12 2015, @02:20AM
What?
Why?
Breathing the air back then was more of a danger to my health than going to school was.
And as for the 'wasted time', I have no clue what you mean. I saw it as a valuble learning experience that shaped who I am today. I never would have learned to fight well, and that built confidence. By adulthood, I could be tossed into new envoirments, new culures and new people, new territory, and land on my feet, able to effectively cope easily.(I should know-Uncle Sam tossed me often enough) I learned humility, pride, and respect, both for myself and for others. How could that be 'wasted time'?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 12 2015, @08:28AM
Waste as in education interrupted by physical violence. But if that didn't happen then good for you. The secondary issue is the mental load of being on the alert at all times. But if that also worked out, then all is good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @09:05AM
The people who decided and enforced the bussing in should be killed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DECbot on Monday May 11 2015, @05:06PM
So, after confirmation of this study, I imagine the logical course of action would be to file a class action lawsuit against the 1% for shortening the lives of the impoverished (the 99%)? But then again, why would you need confirmation when you can have FUD today? Confirmation could take generations and I need cash now!
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 12 2015, @04:59PM
Fear: ...logical course of action would be to file a class action lawsuit against...
Uncertainty: Confirmation could take generations...
Doubt: ...why would you need confirmation when you can have FUD today?
Why yes, we certainly can have FUD today.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @05:20PM
I wonder how bad it is for folks in silicon valley or NYC? I feel the lifestyle for folks in SV is pretty bad. Long commutes, late working hours, high stress environments. I don't think these are issues only segregated to the poor.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Monday May 11 2015, @06:16PM
Stronger stress is not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Or if you'll involuntarily skip it. Or be robbed or worse.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday May 11 2015, @10:40PM
Stronger stress is not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Or if you'll involuntarily skip it. Or be robbed or worse.
Stress doesn't work that way. The body doesn't magically know that stress from one source is worse than stress from another. I won't go as far as to claim that a IT job is automatically more stressful than a low income job in a bad neighborhood of Detroit, that's implausible, but a number of those IT jobs are extremely stressful and would be comparable even though the pay is better.
I think though that actual physical injury/illness and deprivation have effects beyond just "stress" and ethnic whatever. For example, healing from injury or illness requires some amount of tissue regeneration which in turn requires a lot of cell division which would shorten telomeres in parts of the body. A bad illness might even cause increased cell division over the entire body. After all, how long are cells going to last when the body has fever or elevated levels of toxins in the bloodstream for long periods of time?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday May 11 2015, @11:13PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:14AM
I wonder if it is more a feeling of hopelessness than stress.
When one is hopeless, one gets the mindset its game-over. The body may be apt to follow.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday May 12 2015, @06:48AM
My thought was they're looking at this backwards. Maybe people whose telomeres are more "fragile" experience more stress, perhaps being a bit lacking in regenerative ability. If it were just stress, it should not have also separated out by race (poor whites having the shortest sticks).
I'm reminded that PTSD turns out to have a genetic component.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday May 11 2015, @06:26PM
A relative of mine, a crusty grey satellite engineer living and working in silicon valley, repeated all of your concerns during Mother's day brunch yesterday:
And he had this to say about satellite-building:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @06:40PM
They could never build a cleanroom that kept the sand out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @10:52PM
Say what you want about us Arabs but the Arabs come to this country poor, speaking English as a second language, they work and go to some of the best schools studying some of the most difficult subjects and graduate with some of the highest scores. Heck, most of us Arabs speak English better than many educated Americans and I know Arabs that are proficient in several languages. I have a relative that was a language professor at one of the best universities that taught several languages there. He was proficient in seven languages and fluent in an additional six. He also studied ancient documents and was a government translator and at 60 years old when he began having heart problems the government put him at the top of the heart transplant list to get a heart transplant because ... Americans are notoriously monolingual and where the heck are you going to get someone that speaks so many languages so well in America, especially someone who works with/for the government. All the Arabs in my circles came here poor and are mostly now college educated and very successful. They unanimously find our educational system very easy compared to their own where the teacher would ask a question and if you didn't have the right answer the teacher would hit you with a ruler. Heck, one of my uncles had his tooth knocked out by a teacher and when my grandma complained the school sided with the teacher. That's why they find our educational system relatively easy, they had it hard. and they find opportunity here where in their own country all they see is oppression which is why they can't succeed there. The problem is their oppressive governments. They know what poverty and hardship is. That's why when they come here they do very well for themselves.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Tork on Monday May 11 2015, @07:05PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sjames on Monday May 11 2015, @08:49PM
And yet, push comes to shove, I'll bet none of them would accept an offer to trade places for a while.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday May 12 2015, @01:35PM
Some would say "Hell yes, I'll take their stuff, it is owed to me!"
Some would say "Hell no, I don't need your oppressive handout!"
There are more options but I suspect it largely depends on what was drummed into their heads most recently and how they thing their peers would view them after the decision.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:06AM
maybe before that, I really have no way of knowing.
What's really disturbing is that I can have a seizure while driving a car. Imagine the entire universe sprang into being, as if G-d Almighty Himself said "Let there be light" and there you are, at the beginning of time, driving your car. It really was just like that.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @06:52PM
That's amazing! I have the same things on the end of my shoelaces!
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday May 12 2015, @08:15AM
DNAglets
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @08:00PM
News flash! Poor people have bad health. Now there's a test for it.
Hear the story of how you can be tested on 11NEWS@11.tv
Don't forget to bring your pocket book.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @11:33PM
Whenever we want it or not we are still part of nature.
(Score: 2) by meisterister on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:19AM
Are they completely sure that there aren't other confounding factors, such as the study taking place in Detroit?
There may be some pollutants or other such factors that only crop up in the poor parts of such cities as well.
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:19AM
all the jackasses on the series of tubes who like to shout CORRELLATION IS NOT CAUSATION don't have a clue as to how scientific research is actually practiced.
It is exceedingly uncommon for any one paper to determine the underlying cause of any phenomenon.
What really happens is that you get many papers, maybe tens of thousands, before you identify the cause. Most of the other papers just find correllations.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @07:10AM
In old white countries the man was the boss, woman the servant.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday May 12 2015, @09:42AM
> Black residents had about the same telomere lengths regardless of whether they were poor or lower-middle-class.
This caught my attention. Bearing in mind that most black Americans are descended from slaves, I have to wonder if there is a link here. Most slaves lived in a state of near-constant fear and stress from the age they were old enough to be worked and whipped until the day they died. They were bred and managed like cattle, and there have already been (controversial) genetic studies suggesting that certain traits in slave-descendants are the result of evolutionary pressures induced by the hardships of slavery.
Could it be that this apparent resistance to stress is a genetic heritage from the bad old days? A follow-up study comparing black people of slave-ancestry and black people from elsewhere might be interesting.
(Score: 2) by gman003 on Tuesday May 12 2015, @01:04PM
It's not impossible, but evolution generally doesn't work that quickly, so it's at least improbable. Still might be worth a follow-up study though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @01:17PM
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/21/jamaicans-sprinting-athletics-commonwealth-games [theguardian.com]
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday May 12 2015, @01:31PM
> evolution generally doesn't work that quickly,
Well, slavery in the US lasted from the early 1600s to the mid-late 1800s (and, let's face it, life didn't really get a whole lot better for black Americans in some places for a long time after that.) That's at least ten generations. Not that I like comparing people to insects, but isn't ten generations usually enough to see genetic changes in an experimental fruit fly population?
Those ten generations of slaves were subject to brutal extremes of violence, starvation, harsh environment and labour. They didn't get much in the way of medical care to mitigate any genetic weaknesses that any individuals may have had. Their lives were forfeit if they did the slightest thing wrong or ceased being productive. Those are some pretty strong selection pressures, applied consistently over ten generations. You really don't think that's enough to have some impact on a population's genetic makeup?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @05:48PM
While I'm not sure that telomere length indicates poor health and degraded genes if it does perhaps one reason that impoverished people have worse health and degraded genes is because they are more likely to engage in bad habits like smoking, drinking, and drugs. Those bad habits contribute to their financial struggle and they also contribute to genetic degradation which gets passed along from parent to child. Does the study control for this possibility?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @06:11PM
(Same poster)
Because sometimes large scale mutagenic disparities are a result of some sort of chemical or environmental mutagen. Drugs, alcohol, smoking, and perhaps other environmental factors or conditions prevalent among lower class people maybe responsible for some of these genetic disparities and for worse health that harms their opportunities for success. Have things like air quality been factored into the equation? Perhaps the types of food that these different groups of people tend to eat maybe a factor. Perhaps someone can find some pattern somewhere.