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Primary Submission Category: Infants/children/youth
The Social Biology of Belonging: Peer Victimization, School Belonging, and Epigenetic Aging Among Children of Latino Immigrants
Authors: Rebeca Alvarado-Harris, Krista Perriera,
Presenting Author: Rebeca Alvarado-Harris*
Children of Latino immigrants often begin life with health advantages, yet the developmental conditions that sustain or erode these advantages remain unclear. Guided by social safety theory and the concept of conditional belonging, this study examined whether peer victimization and school belonging in late childhood predicted changes in epigenetic aging across adolescence. We also tested whether these patterns differed for Latino youth with immigrant versus U.S.-born mothers. Data were drawn from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 341). Peer victimization and school belonging were self-reported at age 9, and Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic clocks were assessed at ages 9 and 15. At age 9, children of immigrant mothers (COI) exhibited slower epigenetic aging than children of U.S.-born mothers, but this advantage eroded by age 15. Among COI, greater victimization predicted faster aging, whereas stronger school belonging predicted slower aging; yet under high victimization, belonging instead accelerated aging. These patterns were not observed for youth with U.S.-born mothers, for whom poverty at birth predicted faster aging. Findings suggest heightened biological sensitivity to social inclusion and exclusion during a developmental period when peer belonging becomes central to identity, shaping whether early health advantages are sustained or lost.