A study to examine the inherited characteristics of social networks using Add Health data appeared in HarvardScience. The research was conducted by James Fowler and Christopher Dawes of UC San Diego and Nicholas Christakis of Harvard.
“Researchers found that popularity, or the number of times an individual was named as a friend, and the likelihood that those friends know one another, were both strongly heritable. Additionally, location within the network, or the tendency to be at the center or on the edges of the group, was also genetically linked. However, the researchers were surprised to learn that the number of people named as a friend by an individual did not appear to be inherited…
“‘One of the things that the study tells us is that social networks are likely to be a fundamental part of our genetic heritage,’ says Fowler.” (January 26, 2009. The genes in your congeniality: Researchers identify genetic influence in social networks. In HarvardScience.)
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This article is based on research published as the following:
Fowler, James H., Christopher T. Dawes, and Nicholas A. Christakis. 2009. Model of Genetic Variation in Human Social Networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, no. 6: 1720-24.
Research on religion as an indicator of sexual behavior, by University of Texas-Austin sociologist Mark Regnerus, appeared in The New Yorker magazine. The research uses data from Add Health.
“Regnerus argues that religion is a good indicator of attitudes toward sex, but a poor one of sexual behavior, and that this gap is especially wide among teen-agers who identify themselves as evangelical. The vast majority of white evangelical adolescents—seventy-four per cent—say that they believe in abstaining from sex before marriage. (Only half of mainline Protestants, and a quarter of Jews, say that they believe in abstinence.) Moreover, among the major religious groups, evangelical virgins are the least likely to anticipate that sex will be pleasurable, and the most likely to believe that having sex will cause their partners to lose respect for them. (Jews most often cite pleasure as a reason to have sex, and say that an unplanned pregnancy would be an embarrassment.) But, according to Add Health data, evangelical teen-agers are more sexually active than Mormons, mainline Protestants, and Jews. On average, white evangelical Protestants make their “sexual debut”—to use the festive term of social-science researchers—shortly after turning sixteen. Among major religious groups, only black Protestants begin having sex earlier.” (Talbot, Margaret. November 3, 2008. Red sex, blue sex: Why do so many evangelical teen-agers become pregnant? In The New Yorker.)
To read the entire article, click here.
Some media outlets may require free user registration or a subscription. Most articles are available at the URLs provided for a limited time, usually two weeks or less.
This article is based on research published as the following:
Regnerus, M.D., Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007.
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill researcher Guang Guo‘s study on genetic propensities, environmental influences and delinquency appeared in U.S. News & World Report. The study uses data from Add Health.
“Reporting in the August issue of the American Sociological Review, researchers from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill point to three genetic polymorphisms that, when paired with social factors, can predict future serious and violent delinquency. After sorting through DNA and social-control information for more than 1,100 males in grades 7 through 12, the researchers found interactions among specific genes and such environmental influences as repeating a school grade or having family meals each day. Social sciences should probably take account of genetic information when studying juvenile delinquency, the authors stated. Public policy makers may also want to take the two realms into account.” (July 17, 2008. Genetics, social factors tied to male delinquency: Family, friends, school impact expression of certain molecular variants, study says. In U.S. News & World Report.)
Some media outlets may require free user registration or a subscription. Most articles are available at the URLs provided for a limited time, usually two weeks or less.
This article is based on research published as the following:
Guo, Guang, Michael E. Roettger, and Tianji Cai. 2008. The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Social-Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths. American Sociological Review 73, no. 4: 543-68.
