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November 2, 2012
Add Health Study: Do We Really Pick Our Friends Based on Genetic Similarities?
Using school, network and genetic data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, researchers at the University of Colorado and Yale University studied the effects of social environment and genetic factors on friendship selection, adding to the growing body of research on the role of genetic homophily in friendship formation. Their results suggest that social context plays a fundamental role in friendship formation, as a social environment can facilitate or restrict the opportunity to select friends with similar genotypes.
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October 26, 2012
Add Health study: Strict Moms Influence Kids’ Friends
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, researchers at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego have found that adolescent drinking and drug use are influenced by the parenting style of their friends’ mothers. Adolescents in social networks that include a friend whose mother practices authoritative parenting face a lower risk of substance abuse than adolescents in social networks that don’t include a friend with an authoritative mother.
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July 6, 2012
Add Health study: Being overweight years before pregnancy linked to bigger babies
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, UNC researchers have found that women who are overweight or obese years before becoming pregnant deliver babies with a higher birth weight, putting the next generation at a higher risk of obesity-related health outcomes.
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