The Counterintuitive Relationship between Telomerase Activity and Childhood Emotional Abuse: Culture and Complexity.
Clifton R EmeryQian-Wen XieJessie S M ChanLing-Li LengCelia H Y ChanKwok-Fai SoAng LiKevin K T PoZoe ChouliaraCecilia Lai Wan ChanAnna W M ChoiL P YuenKam Shing KuWinnie W KungSiu Man NgPublished in: International journal of environmental research and public health (2021)
Emotional abuse was significantly positively associated with telomerase activity. There are at least two non-mutually exclusive explanations for the findings. Simply put, either (1) in the cultural context of Hong Kong emotional abuse was not a risk factor, and/or (2) the conceptualization of telomerase activity as a straightforward indicator of longevity is overly simplistic. The first story we might term a "resilience explanation" while the second we might call a "homeostatic complexity" story.