Negative social ties as emerging risk factors for accelerated aging, inflammation, and multimorbidity - PMC

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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A<br>. 2026 Feb 18;123(8):e2515331123. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2515331123

Negative social ties as emerging risk factors for accelerated aging, inflammation, and multimorbidity

Byungkyu Lee<br>Byungkyu Lee

aDepartment of Sociology, New York University, NY<br>10003

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a,1, Gabriele Ciciurkaite<br>Gabriele Ciciurkaite

bSchool of Social Sciences, Utah State University, UT<br>84112

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b, Siyun Peng<br>Siyun Peng

cSchool of Aging Studies, University of South Florida, FL<br>33612

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c, Colter Mitchell<br>Colter Mitchell

dSurvey Research Center, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MI<br>48104

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d, Brea L Perry<br>Brea L Perry

eDepartment of Sociology, Indiana University–Bloomington, IN<br>47405

fIrsay Institute for Sociomedical Sciences, Indiana University–Bloomington, IN<br>47405

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e,f,1

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aDepartment of Sociology, New York University, NY<br>10003

bSchool of Social Sciences, Utah State University, UT<br>84112

cSchool of Aging Studies, University of South Florida, FL<br>33612

dSurvey Research Center, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MI<br>48104

eDepartment of Sociology, Indiana University–Bloomington, IN<br>47405

fIrsay Institute for Sociomedical Sciences, Indiana University–Bloomington, IN<br>47405

1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: bklee@nyu.edu or blperry@iu.edu.

Edited by James W. Moody, Duke University, Durham, NC; received June 27, 2025; accepted January 22, 2026 by Editorial Board Member Mark Granovetter

Received 2025 Jun 27; Accepted 2026 Jan 22; Issue date 2026 Feb 24.

Copyright © 2026 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).

PMC Copyright notice

PMCID: PMC12933095  PMID: 41706901

Previous version available: This article is based on a previously available preprint posted on medRxiv on July 3, 2025: "<br>Negative Social Ties as Emerging Risk Factors for Accelerated Aging, Inflammation, and Multimorbidity<br>".

See "Do negative social ties accelerate aging in adults, or does aging erode social ties?", e2608036123.

Significance

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.

Keywords: egocentric networks, negative ties, epigenetic aging, inflammation, multimorbidity

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...