Swedish Register Analysis of Divorce and Alcohol Use Disorder Highlights Social Relationships as a Target for Preventive Psychiatry and Genetic Research

Richmond‐Rakerd, Leah S.; Belsky, Daniel W.

doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17020170

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In previous analyses, we estimated that genetic homogamy was about one-third the magnitude of educational homogamy (3), even when specifically examining education-associated genotypes (8). However, even modest genetic homogamy can have implications for statistical and medical genetic models of inheritance and social models of spousal effects (10)(11)(12).…”

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

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In previous analyses, we estimated that genetic homogamy was about one-third the magnitude of educational homogamy ( 3 ), even when specifically examining education-associated genotypes ( 8 ). However, even modest genetic homogamy can have implications for statistical and medical genetic models of inheritance and social models of spousal effects ( 10 – 12 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The social genome of friends and schoolmates in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Domingue

Belsky

Fletcher

et al. 2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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 5,000 American adolescents, we found evidence of social forces that act to make friends and schoolmates more genetically similar to one another compared with 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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“…Previous research shows that the partner's lifestyle has considerable associations with one's own lifestyle across a variety of domains, including obesity, physical activity, eating, alcohol consumption, weight loss, and smoking 10,11 . Partners share resources and they may exert a positive influence by promoting a healthy lifestyle 12,13 and by sanctioning unhealthy behavior [13][14][15][16][17] , although partners may also reinforce unhealthy behaviors.…”

Section: Partners In Health? Investigating Social Genetic Effects Formentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Swedish Register Analysis of Divorce and Alcohol Use Disorder Highlights Social Relationships as a Target for Preventive Psychiatry and Genetic Research

Cited by 4 publications

References 20 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

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

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