DNA-guided temperament helps decide whom people are
drawn to, study suggests
THURSDAY, Aug. 9 (HealthDay News) -- As people mature, genetic
factors may strongly influence who they choose as their friends, a
U.S. study finds.
The study, which was published in the August issue of the journal
Archives ofGeneral Psychiatry, tracked more than 1,800 male twin
pairs from mid-childhood to early adulthood between 1998 and
2004.
"As we grow and move out of our home environment, our genetically
influenced temperament becomes more and more important in
influencing the kinds of friends we like to hang out with," lead
author Dr. Kenneth S. Kendler, professor of psychiatry and human
genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Medicine,
in Richmond, said in a prepared statement.
This kind of research may help improve understanding of who may be
at risk for future substance abuse or other "externalizing"
behaviors such as conduct and antisocial personality disorder, the
researchers said.
"The study shows how genetic and family environmental factors
influence the ways in which we create our own social environment as
we grow," Kendler said.
He noted that the "road from genes to externalizing behaviors like
drug use and antisocial behaviors is not entirely direct or
biological. An important part of this pathway involves our genetics
influencing our own social environment, which in turn impacts on
our risk for a whole host of deviant behaviors."
The study findings "demonstrate clearly that a complete
understanding of the pathway from genes to antisocial behaviors,
including drug abuse, has to take into account self-selection into
deviant versus benign environments," Kendler said. "The effects of
peers in adolescence can be quite powerful, either encouraging or
discouraging deviant behaviors. Peers also provide access to
substances of abuse."
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