Lifetime stress and war exposure timing may predict methylation changes at NR3C1 based on a pilot study in a warrior cohort in a small-scale society in Kenya.

This study supports the importance of NR3C1 methylation changes in response to challenging life circumstances, including in a global south cultural context that contrasts in notable ways from global north contexts and from the starkly tragic examples of the Rwandan genocide and war-associated rape explored in recent studies. Timing of traumatic exposure and culturally salient means to measure enduring symptoms of trauma remain important considerations for DNA methylation studies.