Telomere Erosion and Depressive Symptoms Across Development Following Institutional Care.

Objective: A large literature has identified exposure to early caregiving adversities as a potent risk for developing affective psychopathology, with depression, in particular, increasing across childhood into adolescence. Evidence suggests telomere erosion, a marker of biological aging, may underlie associations between adverse early-life experiences and later depressive behavior; yet, little is understood about this association during development.

Method: The current accelerated longitudinal study examined concurrent telomere length and depressive symptoms concurrently, 2 and 4 years later, from the preschool period through adolescence among children exposed (n =116) and not exposed (n = 242) to early previous institutional (PI) care.