1. Genetic factors explain a significant part of associations between adolescent well-being and the social environment.
- Author
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van de Weijer, Margot P., Pelt, Dirk H. M., van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E. M., Willemsen, Gonneke, and Bartels, Meike
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WELL-being , *STATISTICS , *LEISURE , *GENETICS , *FAMILY conflict , *TWINS , *SOCIAL context , *COMPARATIVE studies , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *STATISTICAL models , *PHENOTYPES - Abstract
Socio-environmental factors play an important role in adolescent well-being, but potential genetic contributions to these associations are rarely assessed. To address this gap in the literature, associations between well-being and family conflict and functioning, number of friends, friendship importance and satisfaction, and leisure time variables were studied in N = ~ 4700 twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register, us ing generalized estimating equations and twin-difference scores. When twin-difference scores indicated a role for genetic factors, we used bivariate genetic models to quantify genetic and environmental contributions to these associations. We identify significant associations between well-being and family functioning, family conflict, different leisure time activities, number of friends, and satisfaction with friendships. Additionally, we find evidence for large (73–91%) genetic influence on the associations between well-being and family conflict and functioning, leisure time sport/scouting clubs, and satisfaction with friendships. Finally, findings support the hypothesis of a causal association between well-being and family conflict and functioning. These findings have important implications for research into the social correlates of well-being in adolescence, as not taking genetic factors into account leads to overestimations of the influence of identified correlates and consequently to recommendations of these correlates as intervention targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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