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Colloquium Series: Greg Miller (Northwestern University)

October 25, 2018 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Childhood social disadvantage and physical health outcomes across the lifespan: Mechanisms and Moderators

Children who are exposed to social and economic adversity in the early years of life show increased susceptibility to chronic diseases of aging, like heart disease, when they reach their 50’s and 60’s. These findings raise challenging but fascinating mechanistic questions: How does early adversity “get under the skin” in a manner that is sufficiently persistent to affect vulnerability to diseases that arise many decades later? In this lecture I will discuss findings from our ongoing research, which suggest that early adversity gets embedded in cells of the innate immune system at the level of the genome, resulting in a pro-inflammatory tendency that probably contributes to the chronic diseases of aging. I also will discuss ongoing research to identify processes that moderate these effects. These studies reveal powerful buffering effects of nurturant parenting. But the situation is more complex for self control, another factor often shown to be protective for youth at risk. Here, there seems to be a tradeoff between academic success and physical health in low-income youth, suggesting a cost to mobility.

Talk held in room 107 of Brogden Psychology Building.

For information regarding the talk contact uwcsc@googlegroups.com.

Details

Date:
October 25, 2018
Time:
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Categories:
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Venue

TBA