Title:      Friendships Moderate an Association Between the DRD4
Gene and Political Ideology

Authors:    Jaime Settle, Christopher Dawes, Nicholas
Christakis, James Fowler

Entrydate:  2008-06-08 17:25:21

Keywords:   

Abstract:   Studies of identical and fraternal twins suggest
that political ideology has a heritable component (Alford, Funk,
and Hibbing 2005; Hatemi et al. 2007), but no specific gene
associated with political ideology has so far been identified.
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health, we investigate the moderating influence of friendships
on the contribution of the 7R allele of the DRD4 gene to liberal
political ideology.  The number of self-nominated friendships in
adolescence moderates the influence of the gene on political
ideology; the more friends nominated, the stronger the liberal
ideological identification of the respondent in early adulthood.
This is the first study to elaborate a specific gene-environment
interaction that contributes to ideological self-identification.

http://polmeth.wustl.edu/retrieve.php?id=755

**********************************************************
             Political Methodology E-Mail List
   Editors: Melanie Goodrich, <[log in to unmask]>
            Delia Bailey, <[log in to unmask]>
**********************************************************
        Send messages to [log in to unmask]
  To join the list, cancel your subscription, or modify
           your subscription settings visit:

          http://polmeth.wustl.edu/polmeth.php

**********************************************************