Genetic influences on ‘environmental’ factors
Open accessAbstract
Childhood environment, social environment and behavior, leisure time activities and life events have been hypothesized to contribute to individual differences in cognitive abilities and physical and emotional well‐being. These factors are often labeled ‘environmental’, suggesting they shape but not reflect individual differences in behavior. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that these factors are not randomly distributed across the population but reflect heritable individual differences. Self‐report data on Childhood Environment, Social Environment and Behavior, Leisure Time Activities and Life Events were obtained from 560 adult twins and siblings (mean age 47.11 years). Results clearly show considerable genetic influences on these factors with mean broad heritability of 0.49 (0.00–0.87). This suggests that what we think of as measures of ‘environment’ are better described as external factors that might be partly under genetic control. Understanding causes of individual differences in external factors may aid in clarifying the intricate nature between genetic and environmental influences on complex traits.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
These results are expected in both genetic and non-genetic models because environmental variables and familial characteristics like SES also reflect genetic influences.
“These results, however, are expected in both genetic and non-genetic models because environmental variables and familial characteristics like SES also reflect genetic influences [2,107,108].”
From Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability (2019) · cites this paper as [108]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Variance Components Models for Gene–Environment Interaction in Twin Analysis
Purcell, S. (2002) · Twin Research · doi:10.1375/136905202762342026 · Cited by 924 · cited 3× · see citing works
“For example, external factors may be correlated with the genetic effects on complex traits (rGE), and this rGE can appear as gene–environment interaction (G × E) if the rGE is not accommodated explicitly in the model (Purcell 2002).”
BackgroundInfluentialBrugha, T. S., & Cragg, D. (1990) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1990.tb01360.x · Cited by 883 · see citing works
A Note on the Statistical Power in Extended Twin Designs
Posthuma, D., & Boomsma, D. I. (2000) · Behavior Genetics · doi:10.1023/a:1001959306025 · Cited by 272 · see citing works
Self-citationPTSD symptoms and cognitive performance in recent trauma survivors
Brandes, D., Ben-Schachar, G., Gilboa, A., Bonne, O., Freedman, S., & Shalev, A. Y. (2002) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/s0165-1781(02)00125-7 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Buckley, T.C., Blanchard, E.B. & Neill, W.T. (2000) Information processing and PTSD: a review of the empirical literature. Clin Psychol Rev 20, 1041-1065.
- Dawkins, R. (1982) The Extended Phenotype. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Falconer, D.S. & Mackay, T.F. C. (1989) Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 4th edn. Pearson Education Limited, Harlow.
- Kendler, K.S. & Baker, J.H. (2007) Genetic influences on measures of the environment: a systematic review. Psychol Med 37, 615-626.
- Moos, R.H. (1974) Family Environment Scale: Preliminary Manual. Consulting Psychological Press, Palo Alto, CA.
- Sarason, B.R., Pierce, G. R. & Sarason, I.G. (1990) Social support: the sense of acceptance and the role of relationships. In Sarason, I.G., Sarason, B.R. & Pierce, G. R. (eds), Social Support: An Interactional View John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 97-125.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Unravelling the effects of the environment and host genotype on the gut microbiome
Spor, A., Koren, O., & Ley, R. (2011) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/nrmicro2540 · Cited by 1,509 · see citing works
Olm, M. R., Crits-Christoph, A., Bouma-Gregson, K., Firek, B. A., Morowitz, M. J., & Banfield, J. F. (2021) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/s41587-020-00797-0 · Cited by 537 · see citing works
Krapohl, E., & Plomin, R. (2016) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/mp.2015.2 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Jami, E. S., Hammerschlag, A. R., Bartels, M., & Middeldorp, C. M. (2021) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01300-2 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability
Lasker, J., Pesta, B. J., Fuerst, J. G. R., & Kirkegaard, E. O. W. (2019) · Psych · doi:10.3390/psych1010034 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
- Authors
- Vinkhuyzen, A. A. E., Van Der Sluis, S., De Geus, E. J. C., Boomsma, D. I., & Posthuma, D.
- Affiliations
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Vinkhuyzen, A. A. E.
- Venue
- Genes, Brain and Behavior
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-04
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 276-287
- ISSN
- 1601-183X (ISSN-L)
- 1601-1848
- OpenAlex
- W2164413114
- Cited by
- 70
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 4.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Genes Brain & Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (451-08-025, VENI-451-08-025, VIDI-016-065-318)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Physical Performance
- Keywords
- heritability, genetic factors, childhood environment, social environment, behavior, leisure-time activities, life events, individual differences, twin and sibling studies, gene-environment interaction, complex traits
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Family, Female, Genotype, Humans, Individuality, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, Personality Inventory, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Behavior, Social Environment, Twins, Siblings
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
