Genetic and socioeconomic study of mate choice in Latinos reveals novel assortment patterns

Zou, James; Park, Danny S.; Burchard, Esteban G.; Torgerson, Dara G.; Pino-Yanes, María; Song, Yun S.; Sankararaman, Sriram; Halperin, Eran; Zaitlen, Noah

doi:10.1073/pnas.1501741112

Cited by 43 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The degree to which genetics are implicated in the formation and consequences of social relationships is of growing interest to the new field of sociogenomics (1,2). Analysis of spousal genotypes suggests that spouses are more genetically similar to one another as compared to random pairs of individuals in the population (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). The degree of this genetic "homogamy" is modest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Genome of Friends and Schoolmates in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Domingue¹,

Belsky

Fletcher

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Humans tend to form social relationships with others who resemble them. Whether this sorting of like with like arises from historical patterns of migration, meso-level social structures in modern society, or individual-level selection of similar peers remains unsettled. Recent research has evaluated the possibility that unobserved genotypes may play an important role in the creation of homophilous relationships. We extend this work by using data from 9,500 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine genetic similarities among pairs of friends. While there is some evidence that friends have correlated genotypes, both at the whole-genome level as well as at trait-associated loci (via polygenic scores), further analysis suggests that meso-level forces, such as school assignment, are a principal source of genetic similarity between friends. We also observe apparent social-genetic effects in which polygenic scores of an individual’s friends and schoolmates predict the individual’s own educational attainment. In contrast, an individual’s height is unassociated with the height genetics of peers.SignificanceOur study reported significant findings of a “social genome” that can be quantified and studied to understand human health and behavior. In a national sample of more than 9,000 American adolescents, we found evidence of social forces that act to make friends and schoolmates more genetically similar to one another as compared to random pairs of unrelated individuals. This subtle genetic similarity was observed across the entire genome and at sets of genomic locations linked with specific traits—educational attainment and body-mass index—a phenomenon we term “social-genetic correlation.” We also find evidence of a “social-genetic effect” such that the genetics of a person’s friends and schoolmates influenced their own education, even after accounting for the person’s own genetics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Genome of Friends and Schoolmates in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Domingue¹,

Belsky

Fletcher

et al. 2017

Preprint

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“…What is more, SGE may be particularly likely for partners compared to other social ties because partners face large costs to leaving their relationship and are typically exposed to each other on a daily basis, which may increase incentives to influence the partners behavior and also the willingness to conform. Although genetics are implicated in partner selection [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] , by using data on both partner's genetic make-up we can examine genetic assortative mating and control for it.…”

Section: Partners In Health? Investigating Social Genetic Effects Formentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We start by examining partner similarity on a phenotypic and genotypic level for these outcomes. Recent findings show weak genotypic similarity between partners for education, height, and BMI [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] , but to our knowledge no research examined drinking and smoking behavior.…”

Section: Partners In Health? Investigating Social Genetic Effects Formentioning

confidence: 99%

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Partners in health? Investigating social genetic effects for married and cohabiting couples

Mandemakers

Otten

2019

Preprint

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Social contagion' research suggests that health behaviors (BMI, smoking, drinking, etc.) spread through social networks, including dyadic ties such as between married/cohabiting partners. However, separating contagion from assortative mating ('like seeks like') and shared environmental factors remains notoriously difficult in observational studies. It is not possible to obtain exogenous variation in long-term partnerships ('random mating'), but genetic approaches can offer a novel way to examine partner similarity and the role of social contagion. This paper explores possible social genetic effects among partners, i.e., effects of the partner's genes on one's own behavior. We use the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study with data on health behavior and genomic data for both ego and his/her partner to examine social genetic effects for BMI, drinking, and smoking behavior. For each outcome, we find support for social genetic effects. Americans of European descent were more overweight if they had partners with higher polygenic scores for BMI net of their own polygenic score. Similar findings were found for the number of drinks per week and cigarettes per day. Longitudinal analyses that conditioned on past health behavior of both spouses confirmed these findings. We further explored whether susceptibility to the partner's influence differed between men and women, but did not find consistent differences across outcomes. Findings are further discussed in the light of ramifications of social genetic effects for the social and biological sciences.

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“…As such, there are no two fairly distinct groups we can calculate a between group heritability for, even though the genetic causes are still related to ancestry. Humans do not pick mates at random, and in fact, there is evidence that they prefer mates similar in ancestry, even within racial groups and when controlling for educational attainment (Helgason, Pálsson, Guðbjartsson, Kristjánsson, & Stefánsson, 2008;Zou et al, 2015). As a simple solution, mates were matched for ancestry for imperfectly such that some outbreeding would occur.…”

Section: Simulation 6 -Non-random Matingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic ancestry, cognitive ability, and socioeconomic outcomes

Kirkegaard¹,

Fuerst²,

Meisenberg³

2017

Preprint

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Self-identified race/ethnicity (SIRE) groups are known to differ in average cognitive ability, socioeconomic status and genomic ancestry, but the causal paths are disputed. We used data from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics Study (PING; n = 1,369) to examine the relationship between cognitive ability, socioeconomic outcomes and genomic ancestry in the United States.In regression models using 4 different codings of SIRE as a covariate, we found non-trivial relationships between genomic ancestry and outcomes. The relationship between genomic ancestry and cognitive ability was reduced but was still substantial when parental socioeconomic status was controlled for. Interpretation of this is unclear due to possible genetic confounding. Relationships also held when Hispanics and African Americans were analyzed alone.In this sample, the mean IQ by ancestry was approximately 100 for European, 78 for African, and 86 for Amerindian. The sample sizes for the remaining ancestries were too small to produce reliable estimates. The results are consistent with genetic models of cognitive and social inequality, but also with certain environmental models. More sophisticated studies are possible and necessary to resolve the question.

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Genetic and socioeconomic study of mate choice in Latinos reveals novel assortment patterns

Cited by 43 publications

References 37 publications

The Social Genome of Friends and Schoolmates in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

The Social Genome of Friends and Schoolmates in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Partners in health? Investigating social genetic effects for married and cohabiting couples

Genomic ancestry, cognitive ability, and socioeconomic outcomes

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