Department of Sociology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Jan 1;76(1):184-194. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbz151.
Emerging social genetics research suggests one's genes may influence not just one's own outcomes but also those of close social alters. Health implications, particularly in late life, remain underexplored. Using combined genetic and survey data, this study examined such transpersonal genetic associations among older U.S. couples.
Data were from married or cohabiting couples in the 2006-2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, nationally representative of U.S. adults over 50. Measures included a polygenic score for educational attainment, and self-rated health. Analysis was through parallel process latent growth models.
Women's and men's genetic scores for education had transpersonal linkages with their partner's health. Such associations were solely with life-course variations and not late-life change in outcomes. Moreover, they were indirect, mediated by educational attainment itself. Evidence also emerged for individual-level genetic effects mediated by the partner's education.
In addition to the subject-specific linkages emphasized in extant genetics literature, relational contexts involve multiple transpersonal genetic associations. These appear to have consequences for a partner's and one's own health. Life-course theory indicates that a person is never not embedded in such contexts, suggesting that these patterns may be widespread. Research is needed on their implications for the life-course and gene-environment correlation literature.
新兴的社会遗传学研究表明，一个人的基因不仅可能影响自身的结果，还可能影响其亲密社交关系人的结果。健康方面的影响，尤其是在晚年，仍未得到充分探索。本研究利用联合遗传和调查数据，考察了美国老年夫妇之间的这种跨个体遗传关联。
数据来自 2006 年至 2016 年健康与退休研究的已婚或同居夫妇，是美国 50 岁以上成年人的全国代表性样本。测量包括受教育程度的多基因评分和自我评估的健康状况。分析采用平行过程潜在增长模型。
女性和男性的教育遗传评分与他们伴侣的健康存在跨个体的联系。这种关联仅与人生历程的变化有关，而与结果的晚年变化无关。此外，它们是通过受教育程度本身的中介作用间接产生的。也有证据表明，个体层面的遗传效应是由伴侣的教育水平所介导的。
除了现有遗传学文献中强调的个体特异性关联之外，关系背景还涉及多个跨个体的遗传关联。这些关联似乎对伴侣和自身的健康都有影响。生命历程理论表明，一个人永远不会脱离这种背景，这表明这些模式可能很普遍。需要研究它们对生命历程和基因-环境相关性文献的影响。
