Abstract
The present study uses a behavioral genetic design to investigate the genetic and environmental influences on variation in adolescent body mass index (BMI) and to determine whether the relative influences of genetic and environmental factors on variation in BMI are similar across racial groups and sexes. Data for the present study come from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health (Add Health), a large, nationally representative study of adolescent health and health-related behaviors. The Add Health sample contains a subset of sibling pairs that differs in levels of genetic relatedness, making it well suited for behavioral genetics analyses. The present study examines whether genetic and environmental influences on adolescent BMI are the same for males and females and for Black and White adolescents. Results indicate that genetic factors contribute substantially to individual differences in adolescent BMI, explaining between 45 and 85% of the variance in BMI. Furthermore, based on an analysis of opposite-sex sibling pairs, the genes that influence variation in adolescent BMI are similar for males and females. However, the relative importance of genetic and environmental influences on variation in BMI differs for males and females and for Blacks and Whites. Although parameter estimates could be constrained to be equal for Black and White males, they could not be constrained to be equal for Black and White females. Moreover, the best-fitting model for Black females was an ADE model, for White females it was an ACE model, and for males it was an AE model. Thus, shared environmental influences are significant for White female adolescents, but not for Black females or males. Likewise, nonadditive genetic influences are indicated for Black females, but not for White females or males. Implications of these results are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Akaike, H. (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika 52:317–332.
Allison, D. B. (1992). A field study of ethnic differences in preferences for women's body shapes. Int. J. Obes. 16(Suppl.):21.
Allison, D. B., Heshka, S., Neale, M. C., and Heymsfield, S. B. (1994a). Race effects in the genetics of adolescents' Body Mass Index. Int. J. Obes. 18:363–368.
Allison, D. B., Heshka, S., Neale, M. C., Lykken, D. T., and Heymsfield, S. B. (1994b). A genetic analysis of relative weight among 4,020 twin pairs, with an emphasis on sex effects. Health Psychol. 13:362–365.
Bodurtha, J. N., Mosteller, M., Hewitt, J. K., Nance, W. E., Eaves, L. J., Moskowitz, W. B., Katz, S., and Schieken, R. M. (1990). Genetic analysis of anthropometric measures in 11-year-old-twins: The Medical College of Virginia Twin Study. Pediatr. Res. 28:1–4.
Bouchard, T. J., Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., and Tellegen, A. (1990). Sources of human psychological differences: The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. Science 250:223–228.
Carmichael, C. M., and McGue, M. (1995). A cross-sectional examination of height, weight, and Body Mass Index in adult twins. J. Gerontol. 50A:B237–B244.
Dawson, D. A. (1988). Ethnic differences in female overweight: Data from the 1985 National Health Interview Survey. Am. J. Public Health 78:1326–1329.
Fabsitz, R. R., Sholinsky, P., and Carmelli, D. (1994). Genetic influences on adult weight gain and maximum Body Mass Index in male twins. Am. J. Epidemiol. 140:711–720.
Greenlund, K. J., Liu, K., Dyer, A. R., Kiefe, C. I., Burke, G. L., and Yunis, C. (1996). Body mass index in young adults: Associations with parental body size and education in the CARDIA study. Am. J. Public Health 86:480–485.
Grilo, C. M., and Pogue-Geile, M. F. (1991). The nature of environmental influences on weight and obesity: A behavior genetic analysis. Psychol. Bull. 110:520–537.
Guillaume, M., and Bjorntorp, P. (1996). Obesity in children: Environmental and genetic aspects. Horm. Metab. Res. 28:573–581.
Herskind, A. M., McGue, M., Sorensen, T. I. A., and Harvald, B. (1996). Sex and age specific assessment of genetic and environmental influences on body mass index in twins. Int. J. Obes. 20:106–113.
Hettema, J. M., Neale, M. C., and Kendler, K. S. (1995). Physical similarity and the equal-environments assumption of twin studies of psychiatric disorders. Behav. Genet. 25:327–335.
Hewitt, J. K. (1997). The genetics of obesity: What genetic studies have told us about the environment. Behav. Genet. 27:353–358.
Hsu, L. K. (1996). Epidemiology of the eating disorders. Psych. Clin. N. Am. 19:681–700.
Hunt, S. C., Hasstedt, S. J., Kuida, H., Stults, B. M., Hopkins, P. N., and Williams, R. R. (1989). Genetic heritability and common environmental components of resting and stressed blood pressures, lipids, and Body Mass Index in Utah pedigrees and twins. Am. J. Epidemiol. 129:625–638.
Kaprio, J., Rimpela, A., Winter, T., Viken, R. J., Rimpela, M., and Rose, R. J. (1995). Common genetic influence on BMI and age at menarche. Hum. Biol. 67:739–753.
Khoury, P., Morrison, J. A., Laskarzewski, P. M., and Glueck, C. J. (1983). Parent-offspring and sibling Body Mass Index associations during and after sharing of common household environments: The Princeton School District Family Study. Metabolism 32:82–89.
Korkeila, M., Kaprio, J., Rissanen, A., and Koskenvuo, M. (1995). Consistency and change of body mass index and weight. A study on 5967 adult Finnish twin pairs. Int. J. Obes. 19:310–317.
Kumanyika, S. (1987). Obesity in Black women. Epidemiol. Rev. 9:31–50.
le Grange, D., Telch, C. F., and Tibbs, J. (1998). Eating attitudes and behaviors in 1,435 South African Caucasian and non-Caucasian college students. Am. J. Psych. 155:250–254.
Maes, H. H. M., Neale, M. C., and Eaves, L. J. (1997). Genetic and environmental factors in relative body weight and human adiposity. Behav. Genet. 27:325–351.
McGue, M., Bouchard, T. J., Iacono, W. G., and Lykken, D. T. (1993). Behavioral genetics of cognitive ability: A life span perspective. In Plomin, R., and McClearn, G. E. (eds.), Nature, Nurture and Psychology, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Meyer, J. M. (1995). Genetic studies of obesity across the lifespan. In Turner, J. R., Cardon, L. R., and Hewitt, J. K. (eds.), Behavior Genetic Approaches in Behavioral Medicine, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 145–166.
Neale, M. C. (1997). Mx: Statistical Modeling, 4th ed., Department of Psychiatry, Box 126 MCV, Richmond, VA 23298.
Neale, M. C., and Cardon, L. R. (1992). Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Ness, R., Laskarzewski, P., and Price, R. A. (1991). Inheritance of extreme overweight in Black families. Hum. Biol. 63:39–52.
Plomin, R. (1986). Development, Genetics, and Psychology, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Plomin, R. (1990). Nature and Nurture, Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA.
Price, R. A., and Gottesman, I. I. (1991). Body fat index in identical twins reared apart: Roles for genes and environment. Behav. Genet. 21:1–7.
Rand, C. S. W., and Kuldau, J. M. (1990). The epidemiology of obesity and self-defined weight problem in the general population: Gender, race, age, and social class. Int. J. Eat. Dis. 9:329–343.
Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P. S., Blum, R. W., Bauman, K. E., Harris, K. M., Jones, J., Tabor; J., Beuhrin, T., Sieving, R. E., Shew, M., Ireland, M., Bearinger, L. H., and Udry, J. R. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. JAMA 278:823–832.
Rowe, D. C. (1994). The Limits of Family Influence, Guilford Press, New York.
Rowe, D. C., Jacobson, K. C., and van den Oord, E. J. C. G. (1998). Parental education level and Peabody Picture Vocabulary IQ: A genotype × environment interaction. (submitted for publication).
Sorensen, T. I. A., and Stunkard, A. J. (1993). Does obesity run in families because of genes? An adoption study using silhouettes as a measure of obesity. Acta Psychiatry Scand. 370:67–72.
Stunkard, A. J., and Albaum, J. M. (1981). The accuracy of self-reported weights. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 34:1593–1600.
Stunkard, A. J., Sorensen, T. I. A., Hanis, C., Teasdale, T. W., Chakraborty, R., Schull, W. J., and Schulsinger, F. (1986). An adoption study of human obesity. N. Engl. J. Med. 314:193–198.
Stunkard, A. J., Harris, J. R., Pedersen, N. L., and McClearn, G. E. (1990). The Body Mass Index of twins who have been reared apart. N. Engl. J. Med. 322:1483–1487.
Vogler, G. P., Sorensen, T. I. A., Stunkard, A. J., Srinivasan, M. R., and Rao, D. C. (1995). Influence of genes and shared family environment on adult body mass index assessed in an adoption study by a comprehensive path model. Int. J. Obes. 19:40–45.
Wakeling, A. (1996). Epidemiology of anorexia nervosa. Psych. Res. 62:3–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jacobson, K.C., Rowe, D.C. Genetic and Shared Environmental Influences on Adolescent BMI: Interactions with Race and Sex. Behav Genet 28, 265–278 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021619329904
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021619329904