Intergenerational transmission of body mass index and associations with educational attainment

Hekmat Alrouh*, Elsje van Bergen, Eveline de Zeeuw, Conor Dolan, Dorret I. Boomsma

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Individual differences in educational attainment (EA) and physical health, as indexed by body mass index (BMI), are correlated within persons and across generations. The present aim was to assess these associations while controlling for parental transmission. Methods: We analyzed BMI and EA obtained for 8,866 families from the Netherlands. Data were available for 19,132 persons, including 6,901 parents (mean age 54) and 12,234 of their adult offspring (mean age 32). We employed structural equation modeling to simultaneously model the direct and indirect transmission of BMI and EA from parents to offspring, spousal correlations, and the residual within-person BMI-EA association and tested for gender differences in the transmission parameters. Results: We found moderate intergeneration transmission for BMI (standardized beta ~.20) and EA (~.22), and substantial spousal correlations for BMI (.23) and EA (.51). Cross-trait parent to offspring transmission was weak. The strength of transmission was largely independent of parent or offspring gender. Negative within person EA-BMI correlations were observed for all family members (fathers, -0.102; mothers, -0.147; sons, -0.154; daughters, -0.173). About 60% of the EA-BMI correlation in offspring persisted after taking into account the intergeneration transmission. Conclusions: The intergenerational transmission for BMI and EA is mainly predictive within traits. Significant spousal and within person correlations in the parental generation are responsible for the effect of parental EA on offspring BMI. Offspring EA and BMI are further correlated beyond parental influences.

Original languageEnglish
Article number890
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalBMC Public Health
Volume22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) grant numbers 31160008: Genetic determinants of risk behavior in relation to alcohol use and alcohol use disorder; 531003014: Genetics as a research tool: A natural experiment to elucidate the causal effects of social mobility on health; and The Dutch Research Council (NWO) grant numbers 024.001.003: Individual development: Why some children thrive, and others don’t; 451–15-017, VidW.1154.19.013: The impact of parental genes on offspring health; and 480–15-001/674: Netherlands Twin Registry Repository: researching the interplay between genome and environment.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

Funding

This work was supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) grant numbers 31160008: Genetic determinants of risk behavior in relation to alcohol use and alcohol use disorder; 531003014: Genetics as a research tool: A natural experiment to elucidate the causal effects of social mobility on health; and The Dutch Research Council (NWO) grant numbers 024.001.003: Individual development: Why some children thrive, and others don’t; 451–15-017, VidW.1154.19.013: The impact of parental genes on offspring health; and 480–15-001/674: Netherlands Twin Registry Repository: researching the interplay between genome and environment.

Keywords

  • Body mass index
  • Educational attainment
  • Intergenerational transmission
  • Spouse correlation
  • Structural equation modeling

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