Children’s genetics and family dynamics: An evocative effects analysis of the Norwegian Mother-Father-and-Child Study
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Family demographic behavior is often studied as a response to structural conditions or parental characteristics, yet children may themselves shape key family trajectories, known as an evocative correlation. Using the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and analyzing 40,000 genotyped mother–father–child trios, we test whether children’s polygenic indices (PGIs) predict subsequent fertility, partnership dissolution, and transition to marriage. Accounting for parental PGIs, we found limited evidence for evocative effects across most traits. The exception was that children with a higher ADHD PGI predicted increased parental partnership dissolution (7% [CI=2.9-11.8%] per s.d.), especially in families with daughters (11% [CI=4.9-18%] per s.d.), higher socioeconomic status (15% [CI=7.7-23.2%] per s.d.), and older maternal age at first birth (10% [CI=3-17%] per s.d.). The main source of variation is the socio-economic dimension where child-driven effects are stronger in higher-SES families. The study provides evidence for evocative gene-environment correlations in family demography, demonstrating the importance of child-to-parent effects in shaping family trajectories.
Authors: Evelina Tamerlanov Akimova, Agnes Fauske, Ruth Eva Jørgensen, Alexandra Havdahl, Elizabeth C Corfield, Melinda C. Mills, Torkild Hovde Lyngstad
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Funders: UK Research and Innovation, Trond Mohn stiftelse, Leverhulme Trust, European Commission, University of Bristol, Novo Nordisk, Universitetet i Bergen, Universitetet i Oslo, Norges Forskningsråd, Einstein Stiftung Berlin, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Helse Sør-Øst RHF, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, H2020 European Research Council
Awards: G1274085498, G1334686202, G1416717560, G2230720350, G240382578, G2477700604, G2572253437, Running in the FAMILY - Understanding and predicting the intergenerational transmission of mental illness, G2606538822, G2949564185, G297748026, Chronotype, health and family: The role of biology, socio- and natural environment and their interaction, G5631227239, Mendelian Randomisation, HIGHLIGHT CPC- Connecting Generations Centre, Societal openness, normative flux, and the social modification of heritability, G8745459150
OpenAlex ID: W7084054948
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