Why those who have aggressive relationships with parents, friends as teenagers are aging faster

Teenagers who have conflictual, hostile or aggressive relationships with parents or friends are more likely to show early signs of premature aging and look older by the time they’re 30, according to a University of Virginia study.

The study, which monitored a group of over 100 people in Virginia starting at age 13, found that “what happens in adolescence, beginning in early adolescence, in relationships with peers, can have lifelong implications for physical health up through age 30,” said Joseph Allen, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia who led the study.

The aggression, Allen said, creates a level of stress and activation in the body that increases cortisol level, makes digestion more difficult and decreases the quality of sleep.

Over the yearslong study, researcher