scholarly journals Social Integration and Sleep Disturbance: A Gene-Environment Interaction Study

Collabra ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Sbarra
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Sleep Disturbance ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Shared Environmental Influence ◽  
Low Levels

Objective: Low levels of perceived social integration, or loneliness, are associated with increased risk for a range of poor health outcomes. Sleep disturbance plays a central role in the evolutionary theory of loneliness, which provides a mechanistic account of how low levels of social integration may negatively impact health. No studies, however, have examined whether the association between social integration and sleep disturbance is consistent with a causal effect after accounting for genes that are common to both variables. Method: Using twin data (N = 905 twin pairs) from the nationally-representative Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey, I evaluated a series of bivariate twin models exploring whether the phenotypic association between low social integration and sleep disturbance can be explained by shared genetics. In addition, the current study specified a series of quantitative models for studying gene x environment (G X E) interactions to determine whether the genetic and environmental influences on sleep disturbance differ as a function of social integration. Results: The phenotypic association between social integration and sleep disturbance was fully accounted for by genes that are common between the two variables, suggesting that within-twin pair differences in social integration do not exert a causal influence on sleep disturbance. Social integration, however, moderated the non-shared environmental influence on sleep disturbances, with the greatest environmental influences observed at the lowest levels of social integration. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that an essential feature of the evolutionary model of loneliness may need refinement or elaboration. The moderation findings are discussed in terms of the fit with a stress-buffering model of social support in which environmental influences on sleep disturbance are strongest when social resources are low.

scholarly journals Perceived Family Cohesion Moderates Environmental Influences on Prosocial Behavior in Nigerian Adolescent Twins

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoon-Mi Hur ◽  
Jeanette Taylor ◽  
Hoe-Uk Jeong ◽  
Min-Seo Park ◽  
Brett C. Haberstick
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Family Cohesion ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Shared Environmental Influence ◽  
Sex Limitation

Research shows that perceived family cohesion is positively related to prosocial behavior in adolescents. In this study, we investigated heritability of prosocial behavior (PB) and perceived family cohesion (FC) among Nigerian twins attending public schools in Lagos State, Nigeria (mean age = 14.7 years, SD = 1.7 years), and explored the issue of whether children's perception of cohesive family environment moderated genetic and environmental influences on (PB). The PB scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the FC scale of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III were completed by 2,376 twins (241 monozygotic (MZ) male, 354 MZ female, 440 dizygotic (DZ) male, 553 DZ female, and 788 opposite-sex DZ twins). A general sex-limitation and the bivariate genotype by environment interaction (G×E) models were applied to the data. The general sex-limitation model showed no significant sex differences, indicating that additive genetic and non-shared environmental influences were, 38% (95% CI = 31, 46) and 62% (95% CI = 54, 69) for PB and 33% (95% CI = 24, 40) and 67% (95% CI = 60, 76) for FC in both sexes. These estimates were similar to those found in Western and Asian twin studies to date. The correlation between PB and FC was 0.36. The best-fitting bivariate G×E model indicated that FC significantly moderated non-shared environmental influence unique to PB (E×E interaction). Specifically, non-shared environmental contributions to PB were highest when FC was lowest, and decreased as the levels of FC increased. However, genetic variances in PB were stable across all levels of FC. These findings suggest that FC reduces individual differences in PB by changing non-shared environmental experiences rather than genetic factors in PB.

scholarly journals Household COVID-19 risk and in-person schooling

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. eabh2939
Author(s):  
Justin Lessler ◽  
M. Kate Grabowski ◽  
Kyra H. Grantz ◽  
Elena Badillo-Goicoechea ◽  
C. Jessica E. Metcalf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Office Work ◽  
School Based ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities ◽  
Low Levels

In-person schooling has proved contentious and difficult to study throughout the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Data from a massive online survey in the United States indicates an increased risk of COVID-19-related outcomes among respondents living with a child attending school in-person. School-based mitigation measures are associated with significant reductions in risk, particularly daily symptoms screens, teacher masking, and closure of extra-curricular activities. A positive association between in-person schooling and COVID-19 outcomes persists at low levels of mitigation, but when seven or more mitigation measures are reported, a significant relationship is no longer observed. Among teachers, working outside the home was associated with an increase in COVID-19-related outcomes, but this association is similar to other occupations (e.g., healthcare, office work). While in-person schooling is associated with household COVID-19 risk, this risk can likely be controlled with properly implemented school-based mitigation measures.

scholarly journals No matter Where You Go, There You Are: The Genetic Foundations of Temporal Stability

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelio José Figueredo ◽  
Tomás Cabeza de Baca ◽  
Candace Black
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Behavior Genetic ◽  
Stability Parameters ◽  
Shared Environmental Influence

We present empirical tests of the stability of individual differences over the lifespan using a novel methodological technique to combine behavior-genetic data from twin dyads with longitudinal measures of life history-related traits (including health and personality) from non-twin samples.  Using data from The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Longitudinal Survey, we constructed a series of “hybrid” models that permitted the estimation of both temporal stability parameters and behavior-genetic variance components to determine the contributions of genetic and environmental influences on individual differences.  Our results indicate that changes in a higher-order factor of life history strategy (Super-K, composed of the K-Factor, Covitality, and Personality) over the study period were very small in magnitude and that this temporal stability is under a considerable degree of shared genetic influence and a substantial degree of non-shared environmental influence, but a statistically non-significant degree of shared environmental influence.  Implications and future directions are discussed. DOI:10.2458/azu_jmmss_v5i1_figueredo

Differential Susceptibility Properties of the 5HTTLPR Gene in Relation to Depressive Symptoms and Delinquency

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S102-S102
Author(s):  
K.-W. Nilsson ◽  
C. Åslund
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Differential Susceptibility ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Stressful Environment ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Environmental Events

IntroductionThe candidate gene-environment interaction (cG × E) research field in psychiatry has traditionally been dominated by the diathesis–stress framework, where certain genotypes are assumed to confer increased risk for adverse outcomes in a stressful environment. In later years, theories of differential susceptibility or biological sensitivity have been presented, suggesting that cGs that interact with environmental events do not exclusively confer a risk for behavioural or psychiatric disorders but rather seem to alter the sensitivity to both positive and negative environmental influences.AimsThe present study investigates the susceptibility properties of the 5HTTLPR gene in relation to depressive symptoms and delinquency in two separate adolescent community samples: n = 1457, collected in 2006; and n = 191, collected in 2001.ResultsTwo-, three- and four-way interactions between the 5HTTLPR, positive family environment, negative family environment, and sex were found in relation to both depressive symptoms and delinquency. However, the susceptibility properties of the 5HTTLPR gene were distinctly less pronounced in relation to depressive symptoms.ConclusionsIf the assumption that the 5HTTLPR gene induces differential susceptibility to both positive and negative environmental influences is correct, the previous failures to measure and control for positive environmental factors might be a possible explanation for former inconsistent findings within the research field.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Generalist genes and specialist environments for adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems: A test of severity and directionality

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Marceau ◽  
Jenae Neiderhiser
Keyword(s):  
Externalizing Problems ◽  
Developmental Psychopathology ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Genetic Influence ◽  
Problem Type ◽  
Internalizing And Externalizing Problems ◽  
Environment Model ◽  
Internalizing And Externalizing

Abstract The generalist genes specialist environment model, when applied to developmental psychopathology, predicts that genetic influences should explain variance that is shared across internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas environmental influences should explain variance that distinguishes the two overarching problem types. The present study is a direct test of this hypothesis, leveraging a sample of 708 twins and siblings (aged 10–18 years, 93% White) from the United States. Measures of severity of symptoms, regardless of type, and of directionality of symptoms – whether the adolescent tended to exhibit more externalizing or internalizing problems – were subjected to genetic (A), shared environmental (C), and nonshared environmental (E) (ACE) variance decompositions. As expected, severity of problems was under substantial genetic influence, but there were also significant shared and nonshared environmental influences. Contrary to the generalist genes specialist environment model, directionality of problem type was also under considerable genetic influence, with modest nonshared environmental influence. Findings corroborate existing evidence from other designs highlighting the role of familial influences (including generalist genes) in comorbidity of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, but suggest that the specialist environments hypothesis may not be the key factor in distinguishing problem type.

scholarly journals Interactions of Pathogens and Irritant Chemicals in Land-Applied Sewage Sludges (Biosolids)

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Lewis ◽  
David K. Gattie ◽  
Marc E. Novak ◽  
Susan Sanchez ◽  
Charles Pumphrey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Land Application ◽  
Chemical Components ◽  
Application Site ◽  
Sewage Sludges ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Low Levels

Fertilization of land with processed sewage sludges, which often contain low levels of pathogens, endotoxins, and trace amounts of industrial and household chemicals, has become common practice in Western Europe, the United States, and Canada. Local governments, however, are increasingly restricting or banning the practice in response to residents reporting adverse health effects. These self-reported illnesses have not been studied and methods for assessing exposures of residential communities to contaminants from processed sewage sludges need to be developed. Methods: To describe and document adverse effects reported by residents, 48 individuals at ten sites in the United States and Canada were questioned about their environmental exposures and symptoms. Information was obtained on five additional cases where an outbreak of staphylococcal infections occurred near a land application site in Robesonia, Pennsylvania. Medical records were reviewed in cases involving hospitalization or other medical treatment. Since most complaints were associated with airborne contaminants, an air dispersion model was used as a means for potentially ruling out exposure to sludge as the cause of adverse effects. Results: Affected residents lived within approximately 1 km of land-application sites and generally complained of irritation (e.g., skin rashes and burning of the eyes, throat, and lungs) after exposure to winds blowing from treated fields. A prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus infections of the skin and respiratory tract was found. Approximately one in four of 54 individuals were infected, including two mortalities (septicemia, pneumonia). This result was consistent with the prevalence of S. aureus infections accompanying diaper rashes in which the organism, which is occasionally found in the lower human colon, tends to invade irritated or inflamed tissue. Conclusions: When assessing public health risks from applying sewage sludges in residential areas, potential interactions of chemical contaminants with low levels of pathogens should be considered. An increased risk of infection may occur when allergic and non-allergic reactions to endotoxins and other chemical components irritate skin and mucous membranes and thereby compromise normal barriers to infection.

scholarly journals Elucidating the role of negative parenting in the genetic v. environmental influences on adult psychopathic traits

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Hailey L. Dotterer ◽  
Alexandra Y. Vazquez ◽  
Luke W. Hyde ◽  
Craig S. Neumann ◽  
Pekka Santtila ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Interaction Model ◽  
Psychopathic Traits ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Negative Parenting ◽  
History Of ◽  
Adult Twins ◽  
Callous Affect

Abstract Background Psychopathic traits involve interpersonal manipulation, callous affect, erratic lifestyle, and antisocial behavior. Though adult psychopathic traits emerge from both genetic and environmental risk, no studies have examined etiologic associations between adult psychopathic traits and experiences of parenting in childhood, or the extent to which parenting practices may impact the heritability of adult psychopathic traits using a genetically-informed design. Methods In total, 1842 adult twins from the community reported their current psychopathic traits and experiences of negative parenting during childhood. We fit bivariate genetic models to the data, decomposing the variance within, and the covariance between, psychopathic traits and perceived negative parenting into their genetic and environmental components. We then fit a genotype × environment interaction model to evaluate whether negative parenting moderated the etiology of psychopathic traits. Results Psychopathic traits were moderately heritable with substantial non-shared environmental influences. There were significant associations between perceived negative parenting and three of four psychopathy facets (interpersonal manipulation, erratic lifestyle, antisocial tendencies, but not callous affect). These associations were attributable to a common non-shared environmental pathway and not to overlapping genetic effects. Additionally, we found that primarily shared environmental influences were stronger on psychopathic traits for individuals with a history of greater negative parenting. Conclusions Utilizing a genetically-informed design, we found that both genetic and non-shared environmental factors contribute to the emergence of psychopathic traits. Moreover, perceptions of negative parenting emerged as a clear environmental influence on the development of interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial features of psychopathy.

NATURE, NURTURE AND FIRST SEXUAL INTERCOURSE IN THE USA: FITTING BEHAVIOURAL GENETIC MODELS TO NLSY KINSHIP DATA

1999 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSEPH LEE RODGERS ◽  
DAVID C. ROWE ◽  
MAURY BUSTER
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
First Sexual Intercourse ◽  
Shared Environmental Influence ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Nationally Representative

Fisher (1930) presented both theoretical and empirical results concerning genetic influences on fertility. Since then, only sparse research has been done on the genetics of fertility, although more sophisticated methodogy and data now exist than were available to Fisher. This paper presents a behavioural genetic analysis of age at first intercourse, accounting for genetic, shared environmental, and selected non-shared environmental influences. The data came from the nationally representative National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). A newly developed kinship linking procedure was used that identifies links for cousins, half-siblings, full-siblings and twins in the NLSY. The results suggest a genetic influence in the overall dataset, and also among whites and in male–male and opposite-sex pairs. Genetic influences were extremely small or non-existent for blacks and for female–female pairs. Shared environmental influences were small for most subsets of the data, but moderate for female–female pairs. Two specific non-shared environmental influences – self-esteem and locus of control – were ruled out as accounting for any meaningful variance, although other general sources of non-shared environmental influence appear potentially important. Analysis of selected samples from upper and lower tails suggested that genetic influences are important in accounting for both early and late non-virginity. These findings are consistent with work reported by Miller et al. (1999), who used molecular genetic methods. Generally, these findings support the existence of genetic influences and implicate non-shared environmental influences as being important determinants of the timing of loss of virginity among US adolescents and young adults.

scholarly journals No matter Where You Go, There You Are: The Genetic Foundations of Temporal Stability

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelio José Figueredo ◽  
Tomás Cabeza de Baca ◽  
Candace Black
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Behavior Genetic ◽  
Stability Parameters ◽  
Shared Environmental Influence

We present empirical tests of the stability of individual differences over the lifespan using a novel methodological technique to combine behavior-genetic data from twin dyads with longitudinal measures of life history-related traits (including health and personality) from non-twin samples.  Using data from The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Longitudinal Survey, we constructed a series of “hybrid” models that permitted the estimation of both temporal stability parameters and behavior-genetic variance components to determine the contributions of genetic and environmental influences on individual differences.  Our results indicate that changes in a higher-order factor of life history strategy (Super-K, composed of the K-Factor, Covitality, and Personality) over the study period were very small in magnitude and that this temporal stability is under a considerable degree of shared genetic influence and a substantial degree of non-shared environmental influence, but a statistically non-significant degree of shared environmental influence.  Implications and future directions are discussed. DOI:10.2458/azu_jmmss_v5i1_figueredo

A Silenced Population

Crisis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Gryglewicz ◽  
Melanie Bozzay ◽  
Brittany Arthur-Jordon ◽  
Gabriela D. Romero ◽  
Melissa Witmeier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
At Risk Youth ◽  
Peer Relationship ◽  
Student Records ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Method Student

Abstract. Background: Given challenges that exceed the normal developmental requirements of adolescence, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) youth are believed to be at elevated risk for engaging in suicide-related behavior (SRB). Unfortunately, little is known about the mechanisms that put these youth potentially at risk. Aims: To determine whether peer relationship difficulties are related to increased risk of SRB in DHH youth. Method: Student records (n = 74) were retrieved from an accredited educational center for deaf and blind students in the United States. Results: Peer relationship difficulties were found to be significantly associated with engagement in SRB but not when accounting for depressive symptomatology. Limitations: The restricted sample limits generalizability. Conclusions regarding risk causation cannot be made due to the cross-sectional nature of the study. Conclusion: These results suggest the need for future research that examines the mechanisms of the relationship between peer relationship difficulties, depression, and suicide risk in DHH youth and potential preventive interventions to ameliorate the risks for these at-risk youth.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document