Genetic influences on depression and selection into adverse life experiences

Genome-wide association studies find that a large number of genetic variants jointly influence the risk of depression, which is summarized by polygenic indices (PGIs) of depressive symptoms and major depression. But PGIs by design remain agnostic about the causal mechanisms linking genes to depression. Meanwhile, the role of adverse life experiences in shaping depression risk is well-documented, including via gene-environment correlation. Building on theoretical work on dynamic and contingent genetic selection, we suggest that genetic influences may lead to differential selection into negative life experiences, forging gene-environment correlations that manifest in various permutations of depressive behaviors and environmental adversities. We also examine the extent to which apparent genetic influences may reflect spurious associations due to factors such as indirect genetic effects. Using data from two large surveys of middle-aged and older US adults, we investigate to what extent a PGI of depression predicts the risk of 27 different adversities. Further, to glean insights about the kinds of processes that might lead to gene-environment correlation, we augment these analyses with data from an original preregistered survey to measure cultural understandings of the behavioral dependence of various adversities. We find that the PGI predicts the risk of majority of adversities, net of class background and prior depression, and that the selection risk is greater for adversities typically perceived as being dependent on peoples' own behaviors. Taken together, our findings suggest that the PGI of depression largely picks up the risk of behaviorally-influenced adversities, but to a lesser degree also captures other environmental influences. The results invite further exploration into the behavioral and interactional processes that lie along the pathways intervening between genetic differences and wellbeing.

Mechanism substitution in preventive innovations: Dissecting the reproduction of health inequalities in the United States

In the last three decades, numerous studies in different countries have corroborated the main postulates of the Fundamental Cause Theory (FCT), providing evidence showing how health inequalities are reproduced as society increases its capacity to control disease and/or avoid its consequences through preventive innovations. However, documenting the reproductive logic proposed by the theory requires the development of a dynamic analytical approach to consider socioeconomic disparities in the incorporation of multiple preventive innovations over time, which could act as mediating mechanisms of the durable relationship between socioeconomic status and health/mortality. This study draws on data from different waves of the National Health Interview Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to analyze the diffusion processes of various innovations in the U.S. The results of the study show that educational inequalities emerge, are amplified, and are reduced by the continuous diffusion of preventive innovations, supporting the meta-hypothesis of substitution of mediating mechanisms according to the interconnections of FCT and Diffusion of Innovation Theory.

Variation in initial and continued use of primary, mental health, and specialty video care among Veterans

OBJECTIVE

To identify which Veteran populations are routinely accessing video-based care.

DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING

National, secondary administrative data from electronic health records at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), 2019-2021.

STUDY DESIGN

This retrospective cohort analysis identified patient characteristics associated with the odds of using any video care; and then, among those with a previous video visit, the annual rate of video care utilization. Video care use was reported overall and stratified into care type (e.g., primary, mental health, and specialty video care) between March 10, 2020 and February 28, 2021.

DATA COLLECTION

Veterans active in VA health care (>1 outpatient visit between March 11, 2019 and March 10, 2020) were included in this study.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Among 5,389,129 Veterans in this evaluation, approximately 27.4% of Veterans had at least one video visit. We found differences in video care utilization by type of video care: 14.7% of Veterans had at least one primary care video visit, 10.6% a mental health video visit, and 5.9% a specialty care video visit. Veterans with a history of housing instability had a higher overall rate of video care driven by their higher usage of video for mental health care compared with Veterans in stable housing. American Indian/Alaska Native Veterans had reduced odds of video visits, yet similar rates of video care when compared to White Veterans. Low-income Veterans had lower odds of using primary video care yet slightly elevated rates of primary video care among those with at least one video visit when compared to Veterans enrolled at VA without special considerations.

CONCLUSIONS

Variation in video care utilization patterns by type of care identified Veteran populations that might require greater resources and support to initiate and sustain video care use. Our data support service specific outreach to homeless and American Indian/Alaska Native Veterans.

Wrestling with Social and Behavioral Genomics: Risks, Potential Benefits, and Ethical Responsibility

In this consensus report by a diverse group of academics who conduct and/or are concerned about social and behavioral genomics (SBG) research, the authors recount the often-ugly history of scientific attempts to understand the genetic contributions to human behaviors and social outcomes. They then describe what the current science-including genomewide association studies and polygenic indexes-can and cannot tell us, as well as its risks and potential benefits. They conclude with a discussion of responsible behavior in the context of SBG research. SBG research that compares individuals within a group according to a "sensitive" phenotype requires extra attention to responsible conduct and to responsible communication about the research and its findings. SBG research (1) on sensitive phenotypes that (2) compares two or more groups defined by (a) race, (b) ethnicity, or (c) genetic ancestry (where genetic ancestry could easily be misunderstood as race or ethnicity) requires a compelling justification to be conducted, funded, or published. All authors agree that this justification at least requires a convincing argument that a study's design could yield scientifically valid results; some authors would additionally require the study to have a socially favorable risk-benefit profile.

Advances in transparency and reproducibility in the social sciences

Worries about a "credibility crisis" besieging science have ignited interest in research transparency and reproducibility as ways of restoring trust in published research. For quantitative social science, advances in transparency and reproducibility can be seen as a set of developments whose trajectory predates the recent alarm. We discuss several of these developments, including preregistration, data-sharing, formal infrastructure in the form of resources and policies, open access to research, and specificity regarding research contributions. We also discuss the spillovers of this predominantly quantitative effort towards transparency for qualitative research. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of mutual accountability for effective science, the essential role of openness for this accountability, and the importance of scholarly inclusiveness in figuring out the best ways for openness to be accomplished in practice.

Birth order differences in education originate in postnatal environments

Siblings share many environments and much of their genetics. Yet, siblings turn out different. Intelligence and education are influenced by birth order, with earlier-born siblings outperforming later-borns. We investigate whether birth order differences in education are caused by biological differences present at birth, that is, genetic differences or in utero differences. Using family data that spans two generations, combining registry, survey, and genotype information, this study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). We show that there are no genetic differences by birth order as captured by polygenic scores (PGSs) for educational attainment. Earlier-born have lower birth weight than later-born, indicating worse uterine environments. Educational outcomes are still higher for earlier-born children when we adjust for PGSs and in utero variables, indicating that birth order differences arise postnatally. Finally, we consider potential environmental influences, such as differences according to maternal age, parental educational attainment, and sibling genetic nurture. We show that birth order differences are not biological in origin, but pinning down their specific causes remains elusive.

Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals

We conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) in a sample of ~3 million individuals and identify 3,952 approximately uncorrelated genome-wide-significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genome-wide polygenic predictor, or polygenic index (PGI), explains 12-16% of EA variance and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases. Direct effects (i.e., controlling for parental PGIs) explain roughly half the PGI's magnitude of association with EA and other phenotypes. The correlation between mate-pair PGIs is far too large to be consistent with phenotypic assortment alone, implying additional assortment on PGI-associated factors. In an additional GWAS of dominance deviations from the additive model, we identify no genome-wide-significant SNPs, and a separate X-chromosome additive GWAS identifies 57.

Resource profile and user guide of the Polygenic Index Repository

Polygenic indexes (PGIs) are DNA-based predictors. Their value for research in many scientific disciplines is growing rapidly. As a resource for researchers, we used a consistent methodology to construct PGIs for 47 phenotypes in 11 datasets. To maximize the PGIs' prediction accuracies, we constructed them using genome-wide association studies-some not previously published-from multiple data sources, including 23andMe and UK Biobank. We present a theoretical framework to help interpret analyses involving PGIs. A key insight is that a PGI can be understood as an unbiased but noisy measure of a latent variable we call the 'additive SNP factor'. Regressions in which the true regressor is this factor but the PGI is used as its proxy therefore suffer from errors-in-variables bias. We derive an estimator that corrects for the bias, illustrate the correction, and make a Python tool for implementing it publicly available.

The diffusion of innovative diabetes technologies as a fundamental cause of social inequalities in health. The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, Norway

This study investigates patterns of adoption and diffusion of innovative health technologies by socioeconomic status (SES) in order to assess the extent to which these technologies may be a fundamental cause of health-related inequalities. Quantitative analyses examined SES-based inequalities in the adoption and diffusion of diabetes technologies. Diabetes data from three panels of the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), Norway, were combined with income and education data. Cross-sectional and longitudinal regression analyses were used to examine relevant inequalities. Cross-sectional analyses suggest often present SES-based gradients in the adoption of diabetes technologies, favouring high-SES groups. Statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were most often present when technologies were new. In a cohort followed from 1984 to 1997, high SES individuals were more likely to adopt insulin injection technologies but, due to modest sample sizes, these inequalities were not statistically significant after adjusting for age, gender, and duration of illness. Moreover, compared to low SES individuals, high SES individuals are more active users of diabetes technologies. Results suggest that SES-based variations in access and use of innovative health technologies could act as a mechanism through which inequalities are reproduced. This study provides a discussion of mechanisms and a methodological foundation for further investigation.

Measuring the predictability of life outcomes with a scientific mass collaboration

How predictable are life trajectories? We investigated this question with a scientific mass collaboration using the common task method; 160 teams built predictive models for six life outcomes using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a high-quality birth cohort study. Despite using a rich dataset and applying machine-learning methods optimized for prediction, the best predictions were not very accurate and were only slightly better than those from a simple benchmark model. Within each outcome, prediction error was strongly associated with the family being predicted and weakly associated with the technique used to generate the prediction. Overall, these results suggest practical limits to the predictability of life outcomes in some settings and illustrate the value of mass collaborations in the social sciences.

Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values

Data from the General Social Survey indicate that higher-fertility individuals and their children are more conservative on "family values" issues, especially regarding abortion and same-sex marriage. This pattern implies that differential fertility has increased and will continue to increase public support for conservative policies on these issues. The association of family size with conservatism is specific to traditional-family issues and can be attributed in large part to the greater religiosity and lower educational attainment of individuals from larger families. Over the 2004 to 2018 period, opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion was 3 to 4 percentage points more prevalent than it would have been were traditional-family conservatism independent of family size in the current generation. For same-sex marriage, evolutionary forces have grown in relative importance as society as a whole has liberalized. As of 2018, differential fertility raised the number of US adults opposed to same-sex marriage by 17%, from 46.9 million to 54.8 million.

Networks of problems: social, psychological, and genetic influences on health

An emerging idea in psychopathology conceives of disorders as networks of mutually-reinforcing symptoms that constitute the disorder rather than simply reflect it. This is similar to how social scientists already view socioeconomic status, and has affinities to how physical health problems compound in later life. Social, psychological, and physical conditions might therefore be thought of as networks of problems with 'causal bridges' that span different levels and bring low SES, mental health challenges, and physical health problems into pervasive relationships with one another. The network view suggests a more heterogeneous and less reductive view on genetic causes which accords with the highly diffuse causal architecture now known to be the hallmark of complex behaviors and traits.

Schools as Moderators of Genetic Associations with Life Course Attainments: Evidence from the WLS and Add Health

Genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies of educational attainment have been linked with a range of positive life course development outcomes. However, it remains unclear whether school environments may moderate these genetic associations. We analyze data from two biosocial surveys that contain both genetic data and follow students from secondary school through mid- to late life. We test if the magnitudes of the associations with educational and occupational attainments varied across the secondary schools that participants attended or with characteristics of those schools. Although we find little evidence that genetic associations with educational and occupational attainment varied across schools or with school characteristics, genetic associations with any postsecondary education and college completion were moderated by school-level socioeconomic status. Along similar lines, we observe substantial between-school variation in the average level of educational attainment students achieved for a fixed genotype. These findings emphasize the importance of social context in the interpretation of genetic associations. Specifically, our results suggest that though existing measures of individual genetic endowment have a linear relationship with years of schooling that is relatively consistent across school environments, school context is crucial in connecting an individual's genotype to his or her likelihood of crossing meaningful educational thresholds.

Genetic analysis of social-class mobility in five longitudinal studies

A summary genetic measure, called a "polygenic score," derived from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of education can modestly predict a person's educational and economic success. This prediction could signal a biological mechanism: Education-linked genetics could encode characteristics that help people get ahead in life. Alternatively, prediction could reflect social history: People from well-off families might stay well-off for social reasons, and these families might also look alike genetically. A key test to distinguish biological mechanism from social history is if people with higher education polygenic scores tend to climb the social ladder beyond their parents' position. Upward mobility would indicate education-linked genetics encodes characteristics that foster success. We tested if education-linked polygenic scores predicted social mobility in >20,000 individuals in five longitudinal studies in the United States, Britain, and New Zealand. Participants with higher polygenic scores achieved more education and career success and accumulated more wealth. However, they also tended to come from better-off families. In the key test, participants with higher polygenic scores tended to be upwardly mobile compared with their parents. Moreover, in sibling-difference analysis, the sibling with the higher polygenic score was more upwardly mobile. Thus, education GWAS discoveries are not mere correlates of privilege; they influence social mobility within a life. Additional analyses revealed that a mother's polygenic score predicted her child's attainment over and above the child's own polygenic score, suggesting parents' genetics can also affect their children's attainment through environmental pathways. Education GWAS discoveries affect socioeconomic attainment through influence on individuals' family-of-origin environments and their social mobility.

Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals

Here we conducted a large-scale genetic association analysis of educational attainment in a sample of approximately 1.1 million individuals and identify 1,271 independent genome-wide-significant SNPs. For the SNPs taken together, we found evidence of heterogeneous effects across environments. The SNPs implicate genes involved in brain-development processes and neuron-to-neuron communication. In a separate analysis of the X chromosome, we identify 10 independent genome-wide-significant SNPs and estimate a SNP heritability of around 0.3% in both men and women, consistent with partial dosage compensation. A joint (multi-phenotype) analysis of educational attainment and three related cognitive phenotypes generates polygenic scores that explain 11-13% of the variance in educational attainment and 7-10% of the variance in cognitive performance. This prediction accuracy substantially increases the utility of polygenic scores as tools in research.

Shared Environment Estimates for Educational Attainment: A Puzzle and Possible Solutions

Classical behavioral genetics models for twin and other family designs decompose traits into heritability, shared environment, and nonshared environment components. Estimates of heritability of adult traits are pervasively observed to be far higher than those of shared environment, which has been used to make broad claims about the impotence of upbringing. However, the most commonly studied nondemographic variable in many areas of social science, educational attainment, exhibits robustly high estimates both for heritability and for shared environment. When previously noticed, the usual explanation has emphasized family resources, but evidence suggests this is unlikely to explain the anomalous high estimates for shared environment of educational attainment. We articulate eight potential complementary explanations and discuss evidence of their prospective contributions to resolving the puzzle. In so doing, we hope to further consideration of how behavioral genetics findings may advance studies of social stratification beyond the effort to articulate specific genetic influences.

Development and evaluation of a short 24-h food list as part of a blended dietary assessment strategy in large-scale cohort studies

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The validity of dietary assessment in large-scale cohort studies has been questioned. Combining data sources for the estimation of usual intake in a blended approach may enhance the validity of dietary measurement. Our objective was to develop a web-based 24-h food list for Germany to identify foods consumed during the previous 24 h and to evaluate the performance of the new questionnaire in a feasibility study.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

Available data from the German National Nutrition Survey II were used to develop a finite list of food items. A total of 508 individuals were invited to fill in the 24-h food list via the Internet up to three times during a 3-6-month time period. In addition, participants were asked to evaluate the questionnaire using a brief online evaluation form.

RESULTS

In total, 246 food items were identified for the 24-h food list, reflecting >75% variation in intake of 27 nutrients and four major food groups. Among the individuals invited, 64% participated in the feasibility study. Of these, 100%, 85% and 68% of participants completed the 24-h food list one, two or three times, respectively. The average time needed to complete the questionnaire was 9 min, and its acceptability by participants was rated as high.

CONCLUSIONS

The 24-h food list represents a promising new dietary assessment tool that can be used as part of a blended approach combining multiple data sources for valid estimation of usual dietary intake in large-scale cohort studies.

Skin color, sex, and educational attainment in the post-civil rights era

We assess the relationship between skin color and educational attainment for native-born non-Hispanic Black and White men and women, using data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. CARDIA is a medical cohort study with twenty years of social background data and a continuous measure of skin color, recorded as the percent of light reflected off skin. For Black men and women, we find a one-standard-deviation increase in skin lightness to be associated with a quarter-year increase in educational attainment. For White women, we find an association approximately equal in magnitude to that found for Black respondents, and the pattern of significance across educational transitions suggests that skin color for White women is not simply a proxy for family background. For White men, any relationship between skin color and attainment is not robust and, analyses suggest, might primarily reflect differences in family background. Findings suggest that discrimination on the basis of skin color may be less specific to race than previously thought.

Defining the environment in gene-environment research: lessons from social epidemiology

In this article, we make the case that social epidemiology provides a useful framework to define the environment within gene-environment (G × E) research. We describe the environment in a multilevel, multidomain, longitudinal framework that accounts for upstream processes influencing health outcomes. We then illustrate the utility of this approach by describing how intermediate levels of social organization, such as neighborhoods or schools, are key environmental components of G × E research. We discuss different models of G × E research and encourage public health researchers to consider the value of including genetic information from their study participants. We also encourage researchers interested in G × E interplay to consider the merits of the social epidemiology model when defining the environment.

An Interactional Model of the Call for Survey Participation: Actions and Reactions in the Survey Recruitment Call

Previous research has proposed that the actions of sample members may provide encouraging, discouraging, or ambiguous interactional environments for interviewers soliciting participation in surveys. In our interactional model of the recruitment call that brings together the actions of interviewers and sample members, we examine features of actions that may contribute to an encouraging or discouraging environment in the opening moments of the call. Using audio recordings from the 2004 wave of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and an innovative design that controls for sample members' estimated propensity to participate in the survey, we analyze an extensive set of interviewers' and sample members' actions, the characteristics of those actions, and their sequential location in the interaction. We also analyze whether a sample member's subsequent actions (e.g., a question about the length of the interview or a "wh-type" question) constitute an encouraging, discouraging, or ambiguous environment within which the interviewer must produce her next action. Our case-control design allows us to analyze the consequences of actions for the outcome of the call.

Lunch habits of German children and adolescents: composition and dietary quality

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Data from the ongoing, open-cohort Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study were used to describe warm family lunch meals and the association of the lunch composition with total diet quality.

METHODS

2,095 three-day weighed dietary records, collected between 2004 and 2009, from a 4- to 18-year-old DONALD study subgroup were used.

RESULTS

Warm lunch (eating occasions between 11.30 a.m. and 2.29 p.m. including at least one course that is typically consumed warm) was eaten on 68.8% of all record days. Meat lunch (>50%) was predominant, followed by vegetarian (25%), fish (13%) and sweet lunch meals (3%). The prevalence of desserts at lunch was high and beverages were drunk at 80% of lunch meals. A meat lunch was associated with a higher protein (+1.4% energy intake, %E) and fat intake (+1.7%E) than a sweet lunch; also densities of vitamin A, folate and iron were higher. A dessert at lunch decreased protein intake slightly (-0.2%E), but increased carbohydrate (+0.7%E) and added sugar intake (+1.4%E) as well as density of calcium (+18 mg/MJ).

CONCLUSION

Our study proves the impact of lunch on daily dietary quality and yields valuable insights on the development of food and meal-based dietary guidelines.

Most reported genetic associations with general intelligence are probably false positives

General intelligence (g) and virtually all other behavioral traits are heritable. Associations between g and specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in several candidate genes involved in brain function have been reported. We sought to replicate published associations between g and 12 specific genetic variants (in the genes DTNBP1, CTSD, DRD2, ANKK1, CHRM2, SSADH, COMT, BDNF, CHRNA4, DISC1, APOE, and SNAP25) using data sets from three independent, well-characterized longitudinal studies with samples of 5,571, 1,759, and 2,441 individuals. Of 32 independent tests across all three data sets, only 1 was nominally significant. By contrast, power analyses showed that we should have expected 10 to 15 significant associations, given reasonable assumptions for genotype effect sizes. For positive controls, we confirmed accepted genetic associations for Alzheimer's disease and body mass index, and we used SNP-based calculations of genetic relatedness to replicate previous estimates that about half of the variance in g is accounted for by common genetic variation among individuals. We conclude that the molecular genetics of psychology and social science requires approaches that go beyond the examination of candidate genes.

The Promises and Pitfalls of Genoeconomics*

This article reviews existing research at the intersection of genetics and economics, presents some new findings that illustrate the state of genoeconomics research, and surveys the prospects of this emerging field. Twin studies suggest that economic outcomes and preferences, once corrected for measurement error, appear to be about as heritable as many medical conditions and personality traits. Consistent with this pattern, we present new evidence on the heritability of permanent income and wealth. Turning to genetic association studies, we survey the main ways that the direct measurement of genetic variation across individuals is likely to contribute to economics, and we outline the challenges that have slowed progress in making these contributions. The most urgent problem facing researchers in this field is that most existing efforts to find associations between genetic variation and economic behavior are based on samples that are too small to ensure adequate statistical power. This has led to many false positives in the literature. We suggest a number of possible strategies to improve and remedy this problem: (a) pooling data sets, (b) using statistical techniques that exploit the greater information content of many genes considered jointly, and (c) focusing on economically relevant traits that are most proximate to known biological mechanisms.

Integrating genomic data and social science: challenges and opportunities

Why should social scientists be interested in using molecular genetic data? Here are five reasons:

Using anchoring vignettes to assess group differences in general self-rated health

This article addresses a potentially serious problem with the widely used self-rated health (SRH) survey item: that different groups have systematically different ways of using the item's response categories. Analyses based on unadjusted SRH may thus yield misleading results. The authors evaluate anchoring vignettes as a possible solution to this problem. Using vignettes specifically designed to calibrate the SRH item and data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS; N = 2,625), the authors show how demographic and health-related factors, including sex and education, predict differences in rating styles. Such differences, when not adjusted for statistically, may be sufficiently large to lead to mistakes in rank orderings of groups. In the present sample, unadjusted models show that women have better SRH than men, but this difference disappears in models adjusting for women's greater health-optimism. Anchoring vignettes appear a promising tool for improving intergroup comparability of SRH.

Requests, Blocking Moves, and Rational (Inter)action in Survey Introductions

We draw on conversation analytic methods and research to explicate the interactional phenomenon of requesting in general and the specific case of requesting participation in survey interviews. Recent work on survey participation has given much attention to leverage-saliency theory, but has not engaged how the key concepts of this theory are exhibited in the actual unfolding interaction of interviewers and potential respondents. We do so using digitally recorded and transcribed calls to recruit participation in the 2004 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We describe how potential respondents present interactional environments that are relatively discouraging or encouraging, and how, in response, interviewers may be relatively cautious or presumptive in their requesting actions. We consider how the ability of interviewers to tailor their behavior to their interactional environment can affect whether the introduction reaches the point at which a request to participate is made, the form that this request takes, and the sample person's response. Our analysis contributes to understanding how we might use insights from the analysis of interaction to increase cooperation with requests to participate in surveys.

Preliminary evidence regarding the hypothesis that the sex ratio at sexual maturity may affect longevity in men

In human populations, variation in mate availability has been linked to various biological and social outcomes, but the possible effect of mate availability on health or survival has not been studied. Unbalanced sex ratios are a concern in many parts of the world, and their implications for the health and survival of the constituent individuals warrant careful investigation. We indexed mate availability with contextual sex ratios and investigated the hypothesis that the sex ratio at sexual maturity might be associated with long-term survival for men. Using two unique data sets of 7,683,462 and 4,183 men who were followed for more than 50 years, we found that men who reached their sexual maturity in an environment with higher sex ratios (i.e., higher proportions of reproductively ready men) appeared to suffer higher long-term mortality risks than those in an environment with lower sex ratios. Mate availability at sexual maturity may be linked via several biological and social mechanisms to long-term survival in men.

The Politics of the Gene: Social Status and Beliefs about Genetics for Individual Outcomes

Social scientists have predicted that individuals who occupy socially privileged positions or who have conservative political orientations are most likely to endorse the idea that genes are the root cause of differences among individuals. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of the US population, this study examines belief in the importance of genes for understanding individual differences in a series of broad domains: physical illness, serious mental illness, intelligence, personality, and success in life. We also assess whether the belief that genetics are important for these outcomes is more common among those in relatively advantaged positions or among those who are more politically conservative. Finally, we consider whether such beliefs predict attitudes toward genetics-related social policies. Our analyses suggest that belief in the importance of genetics for individual differences may well have a substantial effect on attitudes toward genetics-related policies, independent of political orientation or other measures. Our study identifies high levels of endorsement for genes as causes of health and social outcomes. We describe a cultural schema in which outcomes that are “closer to the body” are more commonly attributed to genetics. Contrary to expectations, however, we find little evidence that it is more common for whites, the socioeconomically advantaged, or political conservatives to believe that genetics are important for health and social outcomes.

Genetics and the social science explanation of individual outcomes

Accumulating evidence from behavioral genetics suggests that the vast majority of individual-level outcomes of abiding sociological interest are genetically influenced to a substantial degree. This raises the question of the place of genetics in social science explanations. Genomic causation is described from a counterfactualist perspective, which makes its complexity plain and highlights the distinction between identifying causes and substantiating explanations. For explanation, genomic causes must be understood as strictly mediated by the body. One implication is that the challenge of behavioral genetics for sociology is much more a challenge from psychology than biology, and a main role for genetics is as a placeholder for ignorance of more proximate influences of psychological and other embodied variation. Social scientists should not take this challenge from psychology as suggesting any especially fundamental explanatory place for either it or genetics, but the contingent importance of genetic and psychological characteristics is itself available for sociological investigation.

When do older adults turn to the internet for health information? Findings from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND

Understanding how and when patients use nonphysician sources of health information is important to facilitate shared decision making within provider outpatient visits. However, little is known about which older adults seek health information on the internet or when.

OBJECTIVE

To determine how patient characteristics are related to seeking health information online and to the timing of these searches in relation to doctor visits.

PARTICIPANTS

Six thousand two hundred and seventy-nine respondents (aged 63 to 66 years) who completed the 2004 round of phone and mail surveys (70% response) as part of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Graduate Sample.

MEASUREMENTS

Self-reported use of the internet to search for health information and timing of use.

RESULTS

One-third of respondents had searched online for information about their own health or health care. Half of these searched for health information unrelated to their last doctor visit, while 1/3 searched after a visit, and 1/6 searched before. Among respondents with internet access at home or work, years of education (odds ratio [OR]=1.09, confidence interval [CI]=1.06 to 1.13) and openness-to-experience (OR=1.26, CI=1.16 to 1.36) were positively associated with searching online for health information irrespective of timing in relation to doctor visits. Compared with those who had never sought health information online, sicker individuals (especially those with cancer, OR=1.51, CI=1.14 to 1.99) were more likely to seek information online after a doctor visit. Attitudinal and personality factors were related to seeking health information online before or unrelated to a visit.

CONCLUSIONS

There are important differences in the timing of online health information searches by psychological and health characteristics among older adults with internet access.

Ambiguities of chronic illness management and challenges to the medical error paradigm

In recent decades, an interdisciplinary quality assurance (QA) movement has emerged in health care studies, which has included increased attention to medical errors. Implicit in this QA effort is a conflict between (1) external agents encouraging the medical profession to adopt strategies for reducing errors and (2) sociological characteristics of medical practice that systematically inhibit the uptake of these strategies. Using interviews with providers and observations in two diabetes clinics in a large Midwestern city in the USA, we examine how providers understand error in their work, as well as how they think about failures in care and efforts to standardize and impose guidelines in care. We find that the prototypical vocabularies of medical error and QA, which have been largely oriented to acute illness care, are systematically mismatched to ambiguities introduced by chronic illness. These ambiguities create problems for the definition of medical errors, the collection of relevant information, the determination of long-term treatment goals, and the application of standardization efforts. Considered together, these mismatches imply diminishing returns for health policy efforts focused on reducing medical error as part of a larger QA agenda.

Alcohol use and cognition at mid-life: the importance of adjusting for baseline cognitive ability and educational attainment

BACKGROUND

The nature of the relationship between cognition and alcohol consumption remains controversial. Studies have reported negative, positive, and nonsignificant effects of alcohol consumption on cognition. Problematic throughout the literature is that baseline cognitive ability has not been adequately controlled in previous studies, and even educational attainment is only sometimes controlled. Because such variables may be associated with both alcohol intake and later-life cognition, we hypothesize that the observed relationship between alcohol intake and cognition may change when these variables or other conditions in early life have been controlled.

METHODS

We examined the relationship of alcohol intake and cognition at age 53 using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has followed Wisconsin high school graduates from 1957 to 1992. Our measures include cognitive ability test scores from the freshman and junior years of high school, educational attainment, an abstract reasoning test score at age 53, alcohol intake at age 53, and other measures.

RESULTS

When no controls were used, both men and women with low levels of alcohol consumption at 53 (i.e., 0-1 drink per day) had better scores on the abstract reasoning subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) at age 53 than subjects who never drank or currently did not drink. However, after adjusting for adolescent-measured cognitive ability and educational attainment, men with low levels of consumption no longer had higher abstract reasoning scores than nondrinking men, but they still did have higher abstract reasoning scores than men who drank more than one drink per day. For women, adjusting for cognitive ability and educational attainment eliminated all significant effects of alcohol on cognition, and reversed the nonsignificant result that women with higher consumption had the highest cognition scores. These results demonstrate the importance of adjusting for baseline cognitive ability when attempting to study the effect of long-term alcohol use patterns on cognition, and that educational attainment cannot be considered a valid substitute for baseline cognition scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Much of the apparent benefit of moderate alcohol intake on cognition in our society may well be explained by differential rates of alcohol consumption among subjects with differing baseline cognitive ability scores. Neither is there evidence that moderate alcohol intake reduces cognitive functioning.

Tilting at Twindmills: rethinking sociological responses to behavioral genetics

While we commend Horwitz et al. (2003) for speaking to core issues in behavioral genetics, we disagree with many particulars of their article. We are skeptical of their claims regarding the particular contribution offered by both their methods and data. We believe also that the findings they present as challenging the equal environments assumption are, upon closer examination, not persuasive. Most fundamentally, we worry that the way in which Horwitz et al. conceptualize the relationship between genes and environments is not the best means of doing so for sociologists interested in engaging behavioral genetics.

Seven tenths incorrect: heterogeneity and change in the waist-to-hip ratios of Playboy centerfold models and Miss America pageant winners

Drawing on an article by Singh (1993), many discussions of the evolutionary psychology of heterosexual male preferences have reported a remarkable consistency in the waist-to-hip ratios of Playboy centerfold models and Miss America pageant winners over time. We reexamine the measurement data on these American beauty icons and show that these reports are false in several ways. First, the variation in waist-to-hip ratios among these women is greater than reported. Second, the center of the distribution of waist-to-hip ratios is not 0.70, but less than this. Third, the average waist-to-hip ratio within both samples has changed over time in a manner that is statistically significant and can be regarded as mutually consistent. Taken together, the findings undermine some of the evidence given for the repeated suggestion that there is something special--evolutionarily hard-wired or otherwise--about a specific female waist-to-hip ratio of 0.70 as a preference of American heterosexual males.

Proximity of iliosacral screws to neurovascular structures after internal fixation

The placement of iliosacral screws for the stabilization of pelvic ring lesions is technically demanding. The postoperative computed tomography scans of 31 patients who had 57 iliosacral screws placed for various indications were studied to determine the proximity of these screws to neurovascular structures. The closest distance of the screws from the S1 foramen averaged 3 mm. (range, 0-10.5 mm); the average closest distance to the anterior cortex of the sacral ala was 4.8 mm (range, 0-15.3 mm). The corridor for the insertion of the screws between the S1 foramen and the anterior cortex of the sacrum averaged 21.7 mm (range, 16.2-28.9 mm). Trigonometric analysis of these dimensions suggests that deviations of the surgeon's hand by as little as 4 degrees may direct iliosacral screws either into the S1 foramina or through the anterior cortex of the sacrum.