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Parent contributions to the development of political attitudes in adoptive and non-adoptive families
- Emily A Willoughby
- Alexandros Giannelis
- steven ludeke
- Robert Klemmensen
- Asbjørn S. Nørgaard
- William G. Iacono
- James J. Lee
- Matt McGue
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Description: Where do our political attitudes come from? Early research into the etiology of socially relevant beliefs attributed their origin primarily to the social world in which we develop. The observation that similar beliefs are reflected in our family and immediate social environments suggested that children learn these beliefs through the process of socialization. Genetically sensitive study designs later observed that the sociopolitical beliefs of identical twins are more similar than those of non-identical twins, despite being reared in the same environment, leading to an understanding of the role of genetics in the development of social attitudes. However, it has remained unclear whether and to what extent parents influence the development of these attitudes apart from or in addition to their genetic contribution. In a unique sample of 394 adoptive and biological families with adult offspring M age = 31.8, SD = 2.7), we demonstrate strong correlations between attitudes of parents with both adoptive and non-adoptive offspring. Biometric modeling reveals a significant contribution of both maternal and paternal phenotypes apart from and in addition to genetic contribution, including evidence for gene-environment correlation. These findings have significant implications for the origin and development of political and social attitudes in a modern political sphere where the etiology of such beliefs may be more important than ever to many.
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