Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults.

Self-control is a personality dimension that is associated with better physical health and a longer lifespan. Here we examined (1) whether self-control is associated with buccal and saliva DNA-methylation (DNAm) measures of biological aging quantified in children, adolescents, and adults, and (2) whether biological aging measured in buccal DNAm is associated with self-reported health. Following preregistered analyses, we computed two DNAm measures of advanced biological age (PhenoAge and GrimAge Acceleration) and a DNAm measure of pace of aging (DunedinPACE) in buccal samples from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP-G[ene],