Role of social & cultural factors

• What did Kendler et Al (2000) find about the changing heritability of smoking in women?

  • earlier-born women: low genetic influence

  • later-born women: 60% heritability, possibly due to changing social norms
• What did Boardman et Al (2008) find about peer influence on smoking heritability?

  • smoking heritability was highest in schools where popular students were smokers

  • suggests genetic predisposition is influenced by social environment