RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Genetics & the Geography of Health, Behavior, and Attainment
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 376897
DO 10.1101/376897
A1 Daniel W Belsky
A1 Avshalom Caspi
A1 Louise Arseneault
A1 David L Corcoran
A1 Benjamin W Domingue
A1 Kathleen Mullan Harris
A1 Renate Houts
A1 Jonathan Mill
A1 Terrie E Moffitt
A1 Joseph Prinz
A1 Karen Sugden
A1 Jasmin Wertz
A1 Benjamin Williams
A1 Candice Odgers
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/07/25/376897.abstract
AB People’s life chances can be predicted by their neighborhoods. This observation is driving efforts to improve lives by changing neighborhoods. Some neighborhood effects may be causal, supporting neighborhood-level interventions. Other neighborhood effects may reflect selection of families with different characteristics into different neighborhoods, supporting interventions that target families/individuals directly. To test how selection affects different neighborhood-linked problems, we linked neighborhood data with genetic, health, and social-outcome data for >7,000 European-descent UK and US young people in the E-Risk and Add Health Studies. We tested selection/concentration of genetic risks for obesity, schizophrenia, teen-pregnancy, and poor educational outcomes in high-risk neighborhoods, including genetic analysis of neighborhood mobility. Findings argue against genetic selection/concentration as an explanation for neighborhood gradients in obesity and mental-health problems, suggesting neighborhoods may be causal. In contrast, modest genetic selection/concentration was evident for teen-pregnancy and poor educational outcomes, suggesting neighborhood effects for these outcomes should be interpreted with care.Author ContributionsDWB, AC, and CO designed the research. AC, TEM, LA, and KMH collected the data. Data were analyzed by DWB, BWD, RH, DLC, and JP. All authors reviewed drafts and provided critical feedback and approved the final manuscript.The E-Risk Study is funded by the Medical Research Council (UKMRC grant G1002190). Additional support was provided by NICHD grant HD077482 and by the Jacobs Foundation. The Add Health Study is supported by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grants P01HD31921, R01HD073342, and R01HD060726, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. DWB & CLO were supported by fellowships from Jacobs Foundation. BWD is supported by Russell Sage Foundation award 961704. We are grateful to the E-Risk Study mothers and fathers, the twins, and the twins’ teachers and the Add Health Study participants and their parents for their participation. Our thanks to CACI, Google Streetview, and to members of the E-Risk team for their dedication, hard work, and insights.