Archives: News

Posted January 25, 2019

Add Health genetic data is used in two recent studies which exemplify the growing field of sociogenomics.

The first study by Karlsson Linnér et al. focuses on genetic variants (differences in genes across individuals) that are associated with risky behaviors and risk tolerance, or willingness to take risks. Through genome wide association studies (GWAS), the authors not only found 124 gene variants associated with risk tolerance, but also failed to find evidence that supported biological pathways that previous research linked to risk tolerance.

These GWAS results allow the creation of polygenic scores of general risk tolerance. “I expect it to be useful in social science studies,” Jonathan Beauchamp, corresponding author, told University of Toronto news staff. “For instance, the score can be used to study how genetic factors interact with environmental variables to affect risk tolerance and risky behaviors.”

The second study by Liu et al. found 566 genetic variants associated with tobacco and alcohol use. Specifically, these genetic variants were related to five characteristics: the age when a respondent began smoking, the number of cigarettes smoked per day, smoking regularly, if the respondent ever quit smoking, and number of alcoholic drinks per week. Scott Vrieze, a researcher on the project, said “We hope the results drive research on how these genes affect addiction and, ultimately, inform treatment development.”

Both articles were featured in University newspapers:

• Stomach for risk? It could be in your genes, says U of T researcher involved in international study
• Research Brief: Hundreds of genes affecting tobacco and alcohol use discovered

Citations

Karlsson Linnér, R., Biroli, P., Kong, E., Meddens, S. F. W., Wedow, R., Fontana, M. A., . . . Social Science Genetic Association, C. (2019). Genome-wide association analyses of risk tolerance and risky behaviors in over 1 million individuals identify hundreds of loci and shared genetic influences. Nature Genetics. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0309-3

Liu, M., Jiang, Y., Wedow, R., Li, Y., Brazel, D. M., Chen, F., . . . Psychiatry, H. A.-I. (2019). Association studies of up to 1.2 million individuals yield new insights into the genetic etiology of tobacco and alcohol use. Nature Genetics. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0307-5

Posted January 7, 2019

Research has shown that attitudes and knowledge around reproduction predict reproductive behavior. However, throughout the plethora of research, there isn’t a set of conceptual models or measures that are used to determine the constructs – or theoretical makeup – of reproduction attitudes and knowledge. The inconsistency leads to difficulty comparing findings across studies and understanding further how these constructs may lead to different reproductive outcomes, including unintended fertility. A study by Karen Guzzo and others, featured in Demography, looked specifically at developing a framework which could refine existing measures and set a standard for future research.

The research team reviewed questions that related to defined constructs of reproductive attitudes and reproductive knowledge from both Add Health and the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life study. Using psychometric techniques, the authors conducted exploratory factor analysis and tested the generated models using confirmatory factor analysis. The findings revealed that, while reproductive attitudes and knowledge are multidimensional, they are also generalizable among adolescents and young adults in the United States, and there are potential ways to improve current measures.

This study takes an important first step towards synthesizing results from existing studies and developing established measures to model the important relationship between reproductive attitudes and knowledge and unintended fertility, especially among teens and young adults.

You can learn more about the study methods by reading the full article here.

Posted December 20, 2018

Research has determined that adolescents who experience puberty earlier than their peers have a higher risk of delinquency, early sexual activity, and other negative health outcomes. Therefore, it is important to understand what factors might influence the timing of puberty. A prevailing theory postulated that having an absent biological father triggers early pubertal development. Subsequently, this theory has been supported to varying degrees by other studies.

A study by TenEyck, El Sayed, and Barnes tests this proposed causal relationship utilizing Add Health data. Add Health consists of nationally representative data, including biological development questions that were asked while respondents were in Grades 7 through 12, when females are still developing. Add Health also includes variables about respondents’ physical development relative to their peers. These additional variables were used by TenEyck et al. to develop a more complete measure of biological maturity than what previous studies had done.

The study found that there was no relationship between having an absent biological father and early pubertal development, even after accounting for theory-based confounders. The contrasting results from this study, compared to others, requires further research. The authors hypothesize a few factors that may be influencing the absent father/puberty relationship, including the lack of individual level genetics in previous literature. You can view the study here to learn more.

Authors:

Michael F. TenEyck, University of Texas – Arlington

Sarah A. El Sayed, University of Texas – Arlington

J.C. Barnes, University of Cincinnati

TenEyck, M. F., El Sayed, S. A., & Barnes, J. C. (2018). The effect of absent biological father on female biological maturity: Results from a nationally representative sample of adolescents. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 1-16.

Posted November 20, 2018

In 2018 alone, 27 Add Health based dissertations have been published from 23 different Universities. This brings the total number of dissertations and theses utilizing Add Health data to 800. These publications span a range of fields including sociology, biostatistics, and criminal justice. The number of publications by up-and-coming researchers is a testament to the broad topics covered by the Add Health survey and the rich contextual data available. One such dissertation by Rebecca Leinberger employed data across four waves of Add Health to develop and test an index of toxic stress response and how it relates to intergenerational transmission of violence. This index represents “a cluster of maladaptive psychological symptoms” and was created using measures related to health, physical abuse, neighborhood and community context, and family hardship.

We continue to encourage students and researchers of all disciplines to explore the possibilities in this rich dataset. This is made possible by use of our user guides and the Add Health Codebook Explorer, which allows users to browse In-School and In-Home survey questions or search by a specific topic or keywords.

For more information on the data available for each Wave of Add Health and how to use it, see this User Guide. Additionally, the Add Health restricted-use codebooks list and detail dataset availability.

Resources

Please see our Contracts page for information about access to restricted-use Add Health data. Public-use data are also available.

Referenced dissertation
Leinberger R. The childhood origins of intimate partner violence: The role of toxic stress in perpetuating the intergenerational transmission of violence [Dissertation]: University of Michigan; 2018

Additional dissertations
Testa A. Incarceration and nutritional hardship: Considering the link to food insecurity and healthful food access [Dissertation]. College Park, MD: University of Maryland; 2018.

Li T. Statistical tools for network data: Prediction and resampling [Dissertation]: University of Michigan; 2018.

Eyre RW. Complex statistical modeling of socio-economic variables in public health [Dissertation]: University of Warwick; 2018.

Mansion A. Differences in offending among bisexual and heterosexual youth: The influence of maternal support and running away from home [Dissertation]: Arizona State University; 2018.

Posted October 26, 2018

Over 70 researchers, 23andMe, COGENT, and SSGAC came together to conduct one of the largest genetic studies on educational attainment using a sample of 1.1 million individuals. Their work identified 1,271 lead SNPs that are related to educational attainment and was published in Nature Genetics. Additionally, the polygenic scores developed from these SNPs explain 11-13% of the variance in educational attainment.

Findings from this study are monumental but interpreting the findings can be difficult for those not familiar with genomic work. For this reason SSGAC published an FAQ page dedicated to what the results mean and how they relate to education. Essentially, these results provide insight into educational attainment as a complex behavior. Social science and health researchers can utilize these polygenic scores in order to account for genetic variation in a similar fashion as socio-demographic variables are used. The Washington Post has already highlighted research using these polygenic scores to understand how wealth is associated with educational attainment.

Resources

For more information about this study and what the results mean, see the FAQ published by SSGAC.

The study was featured in NYTimes and The Atlantic.

Lead Authors:

• James J. Lee, University of Minnesota
• Robbee Wedow, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Aysu Okbay, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Corresponding authors:

• Peter M. Visscher, University of Queensland
• Daniel J. Benjamin, University of Southern California

View the abstract or download the complete article from Nature Genetics.

Lee JJ, Wedow R, Okbay A, et al. Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals. Nature Genetics. 2018.

Posted October 17, 2018

Research consistently shows that members of the LGBTQ community face health disparities compared to their cisgender, heterosexual counterparts. We need to know how we can better measure these disparities and through which specific pathways these disparities are generated. Three Add Health based studies published this year focus on these questions.

Lamb, Nogg, Rooney, & Blashill challenged past studies which found a negative association between religious activity and hypertension by introducing sexual orientation as an independent variable. As the authors hypothesized, sexual orientation moderated the association between religious activity and hypertension. More religious activity was linked to lower blood pressure among heterosexuals, but homosexual respondents with higher levels of religious activity also had higher blood pressure. In other words, for sexual minorities, religiosity may be a risk factor for hypertension.

Oi & Wilkinson delved into the relationship between same-sex experiences (SSE) and suicidal ideation. Their study focused on whether suicidal ideations varied when considering the time of first SSE. As expected, the results showed that individuals with SSE are at a higher risk of suicidal ideation compared to individuals without any SSE. Additionally, their study showed that sexual minority women who had their first-time SSE in adulthood had a slower rate of decline in suicidal ideation compared to sexual minority women who had SSEs in adolescence and adulthood. Women with SSE in adulthood only experience higher levels of suicidal ideation for a longer period in their lives compared to other groups.

Conron, Goldberg, & Halpern studied the difference in socioeconomic status (SES) by sexual orientation. Overall, sexual minorities faced more socioeconomic inequities. Among males, sexual minorities were more likely to be college graduates than heterosexuals but were also more likely to have lower incomes. The authors argue that SES should be considered as a pathway for sexual orientation health inequalities.

Add Health Data

All of these studies utilize the rich contextual data available in Add Health to contribute to sexual minority research. A 5-year, NIH funded project hopes to further LGBTQ research by adding new data to Add Health from a subset of sexual and gender minorities. Co-principle investigator, Carolyn Halpern said, “These unique data will provide an unprecedented opportunity for Add Health Users to study the intersection of sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic factors and health in a population-based sample across the life course.” Read more about the study: Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity, Socioeconomic Status, and Health across the Life Course.

Information about this and other future data releases will be distributed via the Add Health listserv. To subscribe, email Add Health and request that you be added to the list.

Quote from Gillings School of Global Public Health News.

Resources

Lamb KM, Nogg KA, Rooney BM, Blashill AJ. Organizational religious activity, hypertension, and sexual orientation: Results from a nationally representative sample. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2018.

Oi K, Wilkinson L. Trajectories of suicidal ideation from adolescence to adulthood: Does the history of same-sex experience matter? Archives of Sexual Behavior. 2018.

Conron KJ, Goldberg SK, Halpern CT. Sexual orientation and sex differences in socioeconomic status: a population-based investigation in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 2018.