The influence of peer genes and peer behavior on smoking outcomes: Evidence from Add Health

Citation

Sotoudeh, Ramina; Conley, Dalton; & Harris, Kathleen Mullan (2018). The influence of peer genes and peer behavior on smoking outcomes: Evidence from Add Health. Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. Denver, CO.

Abstract

A growing literature in social genetics asks whether the genes of people in one’s social environment affect one’s outcomes. This literature is conceptually related to the larger peer effects literature; however, the two problems are rarely treated together. We demonstrate the value of integrating peer and social genetic models by using Add Health to examine social genetic and peer effects in smoking. We find evidence of peer effects in smoking. We find that the effect of peer’s genes on an individual’s smoking outcome is similar in magnitude to the effect one’s own genes has on one’s own smoking behavior. Finally, we show that the higher an individual’s genetic predisposition to smoking, the more likely they are to smoke, regardless of peers’ smoking behavior, evidence that genetic propensity to engage in a behavior affects the elasticity of that behavior in response to the social environment.

URL

https://paa.confex.com/paa/2018/webprogrampreliminary/Paper21385.html

Keyword(s)

genetics peer behavior smoking

Reference Type

Conference proceeding

Book Title

Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America

Series Title

Genetics in social science research

Author(s)

Sotoudeh, Ramina
Conley, Dalton
Harris, Kathleen Mullan

Year Published

2018

City of Publication

Denver, CO

Reference ID

8486