title: Genetic mechanisms in the intergenerational transmission of health.
abstract: This paper uses a sample of adoptees to study the genetic mechanisms underlying intergenerational associations in chronic health conditions. I begin by estimating baseline intergenerational models with a sample of approximately 125,000 parent-child pairs, and find that children with a parent who has a specific chronic health condition are at least 100% more likely to have the same condition themselves. To assess the role of genetic mechanisms in generating these strong correlations, I estimate models using a sample of approximately 2400 adoptees, and find that genetic transmission accounts for only 20-30% of the baseline associations. As falsification tests, I repeat this exercise using health measures with externally established levels of genetic determination (height and chicken pox), and the results suggest that comparisons of biological and adopted children are a valid method of isolating genetic effects in this sample. Finally, to corroborate these adoptee-based estimates, I examine health correlations among monozygotic twins, which provide an upper bound estimate of genetic influences, and find a similarly modest role for genetic transmission. I conclude that intergenerational health transmission is an important hindrance to overall socioeconomic mobility, but that the majority of transmission occurs through environmental factors or gene-environment interactions, leaving scope for interventions to effectively mitigate health persistence.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Bolton Hall 878, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA. Electronic address: thompsoo@uwm.edu.
authors.forename: Owen
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000300:Adoption; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D004777:Environment; D005192:Family Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D020773:Headache Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D012923:Social Class; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Adoptees; Genetics; Health transmission