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Genetics, the Rearing Environment, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce : A Swedish National Adoption Study

Salvatore, Jessica E. ; Larsson Lönn, Sara LU ; Sundquist, Jan LU ; Sundquist, Kristina LU and Kendler, Kenneth S. LU (2018) In Psychological Science 29(3). p.370-378
Abstract

We used classical and extended adoption designs in Swedish registries to disentangle genetic and rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. In classical adoption analyses, adoptees (n = 19,715) resembled their biological parents, rather than their adoptive parents, in their history of divorce. In extended adoption analyses, offspring (n = 82,698) resembled their not-lived-with fathers and their lived-with mothers. There was stronger resemblance to lived-with mothers, providing indirect evidence of rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. The heritability of divorce assessed across generations was 0.13. We attempted to replicate our findings using... (More)

We used classical and extended adoption designs in Swedish registries to disentangle genetic and rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. In classical adoption analyses, adoptees (n = 19,715) resembled their biological parents, rather than their adoptive parents, in their history of divorce. In extended adoption analyses, offspring (n = 82,698) resembled their not-lived-with fathers and their lived-with mothers. There was stronger resemblance to lived-with mothers, providing indirect evidence of rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. The heritability of divorce assessed across generations was 0.13. We attempted to replicate our findings using within-generation data from adoptive and biological siblings (ns = 8,523–53,097). Adoptees resembled their biological, not adoptive, siblings in their history of divorce. Thus, there was consistent evidence that genetic factors contributed to the intergenerational transmission of divorce but weaker evidence for a rearing-environment effect of divorce. Within-generation data from siblings supported these conclusions.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
adoption study, divorce, extended adoption study, intergenerational transmission, sibling study
in
Psychological Science
volume
29
issue
3
pages
9 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85043697661
  • pmid:29346036
ISSN
0956-7976
DOI
10.1177/0956797617734864
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
44256060-44b3-4fc7-82e8-6ccad73298bf
date added to LUP
2018-03-27 16:10:32
date last changed
2024-04-15 05:31:15
@article{44256060-44b3-4fc7-82e8-6ccad73298bf,
  abstract     = {{<p>We used classical and extended adoption designs in Swedish registries to disentangle genetic and rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. In classical adoption analyses, adoptees (n = 19,715) resembled their biological parents, rather than their adoptive parents, in their history of divorce. In extended adoption analyses, offspring (n = 82,698) resembled their not-lived-with fathers and their lived-with mothers. There was stronger resemblance to lived-with mothers, providing indirect evidence of rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. The heritability of divorce assessed across generations was 0.13. We attempted to replicate our findings using within-generation data from adoptive and biological siblings (ns = 8,523–53,097). Adoptees resembled their biological, not adoptive, siblings in their history of divorce. Thus, there was consistent evidence that genetic factors contributed to the intergenerational transmission of divorce but weaker evidence for a rearing-environment effect of divorce. Within-generation data from siblings supported these conclusions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Salvatore, Jessica E. and Larsson Lönn, Sara and Sundquist, Jan and Sundquist, Kristina and Kendler, Kenneth S.}},
  issn         = {{0956-7976}},
  keywords     = {{adoption study; divorce; extended adoption study; intergenerational transmission; sibling study}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{370--378}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Psychological Science}},
  title        = {{Genetics, the Rearing Environment, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce : A Swedish National Adoption Study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797617734864}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0956797617734864}},
  volume       = {{29}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}