“Why do some people keep smoking despite widespread knowledge of its harmful effects? The partner is likely important, but is that because of health selection which clusters health and wealth, because of shared environmental influences that affect both partners, or because partners reinforce each other and keep unhealthy behavior locked in place?”
Partners in #Health: Investigating Social #Genetic Effects Among Married and Cohabiting Couples
#openAccess #behaviorGenetics
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-023-10147-w
Partners in Health: Investigating Social Genetic Effects Among Married and Cohabiting Couples - Behavior Genetics
Partners resemble each other in health behaviors and outcomes such as alcohol use, smoking, physical activity, and obesity. While this is consistent with social contagion theory suggesting partner influence, it is notoriously difficult to establish causality because of assortative mating and contextual confounding. We offer a novel approach to studying social contagion in health in long-term partnerships by combining genetic data of both partners in married/cohabiting couples with longitudinal data on their health behaviors and outcomes. We examine the influence of the partner’s genetic predisposition for three health outcomes and behaviors (BMI, smoking, and drinking) among married/cohabiting couples. We use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing with data on health outcomes and genotypes for both partners. Results show that changes over time in BMI, smoking, and drinking depend on the partner’s genetic predispositions to these traits. These findings underline the importance of people’s social surroundings for their health and highlight the potential of targeting health interventions at couples.
