Not Only in My Genes: The Effects of Peers' Genotype on Obesity

Giorgio Brunello, Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano () and Anastasia Terskaya ()
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Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano: Universidad de Alicante
Anastasia Terskaya: University of Barcelona

No 12763, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We use data from three waves of Add Health to study the short- and long-run effects of high school peers' genetic predisposition to high BMI – measured by grade-mates' average BMI polygenic scores – on adolescent and adult obesity in the U.S. We find that, in the short-run, a one standard deviation increase in peers' average BMI polygenic scores raises the probability of obesity for females by 2.8 percentage points, about half the size of the effect induced by a one standard deviation increase in one's own polygenic score. No significant effect is found for males. In the long-run, however, the social-genetic effect fades away, while the effect of one's own genetic risk for BMI increases substantially. We suggest that mechanisms explaining the short-run effect for females include changes in nutrition habits and a distorted perception of body size.

Keywords: BMI polygenic scores; peer effect; obesity; Add Health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D62 I1 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2020, 72, 102349

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Journal Article: Not only in my genes: The effects of peers’ genotype on obesity (2020)
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