Limited common origins of multiple adult health-related behaviors: Evidence from U.S. twins

Citation

Sudharsanan, Nikkil; Behrman, Jere R.; & Kohler, Hans-Peter (2016). Limited common origins of multiple adult health-related behaviors: Evidence from U.S. twins. Social Science and Medicine. vol. 171 pp. 67-83

Abstract

Health-related behaviors are significant contributors to morbidity and mortality in the United States, yet evidence on the underlying causes of the vast within-population variation in behaviors is mixed. While many potential causes of health-related behaviors have been identified—such as schooling, genetics, and environments—little is known on how much of the variation across multiple behaviors is due to a common set of causes. We use three separate datasets on U.S. twins to investigate the degree to which multiple health-related behaviors correlate and can be explained by a common set of factors. We find that aside from smoking and drinking, most behaviors are not strongly correlated among individuals. Based on the results of both within-identical-twins regressions and multivariate behavioral genetics models, we find some evidence that schooling may be related to smoking but not to the covariation between multiple behaviors. Similarly, we find that a large fraction of the variance in each of the behaviors is consistent with genetic factors; however, we do not find strong evidence that a single common set of genes explains variation in multiple behaviors. We find, however, that a large portion of the correlation between smoking and heavy drinking is consistent with common, mostly childhood, environments. This suggests that the initiation and patterns of these two behaviors might arise from a common childhood origin. Research and policy to identify and modify this source may provide a strong way to reduce the population health burden of smoking and heavy drinking.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.11.002

Keyword(s)

Health-related behaviors Twins Smoking Alcohol consumption Schooling Genes

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Social Science and Medicine

Author(s)

Sudharsanan, Nikkil
Behrman, Jere R.
Kohler, Hans-Peter

Year Published

2016

Volume Number

171

Pages

67-83

Edition

November 3, 2016

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.11.002

Reference ID

8009