Well, at age 50 I had my stroke and the result of that is making me happy for the rest of my life. Got divorced at age 58, fired at age 56. All leading to moving to Michigan and finding lots of new friendships.
(Life is
definitely better as I age, I got divorced enhancing my happiness
immeasurably. I'm retired and comfortably well off. And healthy as I can
be post stroke. I'm going to live a long time yet.)
Negative social ties as emerging risk factors for accelerated aging, inflammation, and multimorbidity
Edited
by James W. Moody, Duke University, Durham, NC; received June 27, 2025;
accepted January 22, 2026 by Editorial Board Member Mark Granovetter
Social
relationships are fundamental to human health, yet research has focused
primarily on their supportive dimensions. We investigate the role of
“hasslers,” people in one’s close social networks who create problems or
make life more difficult, finding that these negative ties are not
rare, disproportionately experienced by individuals facing greater
social and health vulnerabilities, and consequential for aging. Each
additional hassler is associated with faster biological aging, with
especially pronounced effects when the hassler is a family member. These
findings identify negative social ties as chronic stressors that shape
aging trajectories and underscore the need for interventions that reduce
harmful social exposures to promote healthier aging.
Abstract
Negative
social ties, or “hasslers,” are pervasive yet understudied components
of social networks that may accelerate biological aging and morbidity.
Using ego-centric network data and DNA methylation-based biological
aging clocks (i.e., DunedinPACE and age-accelerated GrimAge2) from
saliva from a state representative probability sample in Indiana, we
examine how negative social ties are associated with accelerated
biological aging and a broad range of health outcomes, including
inflammation and multimorbidity. Negative relationships are not rare
within close relationships, as nearly 30% of individuals report having
at least one hassler in their network. These hasslers tend to occupy
peripheral network positions and are more likely to be connected through
weak, uniplex ties. Importantly, exposure to negative social ties
follows patterns of social and health vulnerability, with women, daily
smokers, people in poorer health, and those with adverse childhood
experiences more likely to report having hasslers in their networks.
Having more hasslers is associated with accelerated biological aging in
both rate and cumulative burden: Each additional hassler corresponds to
approximately 1.5% faster pace of aging and roughly 9 mo older
biological age. Moreover, not all hasslers exert the same influence; kin
and nonkin hasslers show detrimental associations, whereas spouse
hasslers do not. Finally, a greater number of hasslers is associated
with multiple adverse health outcomes beyond epigenetic aging. These
findings together highlight the critical role of negative social ties in
biological aging as chronic stressors and the need for interventions
that reduce harmful social exposures to promote healthier aging
trajectories.
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