Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Objectives:This study delineated the nature of individual differences in self-reported health status across a 30-year period. Potential survival and selection effects on mean levels, variances, and genetic and environmental sources of variance were evaluated. Methods:Self-reported health status in 1963 was evaluated in 5,229 pairs of twins from the Swedish Twin Registry and in a subsample of 351 pairs surviving to the age of 80 years in 1993. Structural equation modeling evaluated genetic and environmental contributions to total variance and change in variance. Results:For men but not women, the genetic and environmental influences on health symptoms differed between survivors and nonsurvivors. Total variance increased, reflecting an increase in environmental variance, across the 30 years for both genders. Genetic variance decreased longitudinally for men. Discussion:The increase in variation from the mid-50s to the mid-80s appears to be due to an accumulation in environmental variation. There are gender differences that deserve further exploration.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Baltes, P. B. , Reese, H. W. ,& Lipsett, L. P. (1980). Life span developmental psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 31, 65-110.

Berg, S. , Johansson, B. , Plomin, R. , Ahern, F. M. , Pedersen, N. L. , & McClearn, G. E. (1992). Origins of variance in the old-old: The first presentation of the OCTO-Twin study in Sweden. Behavior Genetics, 22, 708-709.

Cederlöf, R. , Friberg, L. , Jonsson, E. ,& Kaij, L. (1961). Studies on similarity diagnosis in twins with the aid of mailed questionnaires. Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae (Roma), 11, 338-362.

Cederlöf, R. , Friberg, L. ,& Lundman, T. (1977). The interactions of smoking, environment and heredity and their implications for disease etiology: A report of epidemiological studies on the Swedish Twin Registries. Acta Medica Scandinavia(Supplement No. 612).

Cederlöf, R. , & Lorich, U. (1978). The Swedish Twin Registry. In W. E. Nance , G. Allen , & P. Parisi (Eds.), Twin research: Biology and epidemiology(pp. 189-195). New York: Alan R. Liss.

Finkel, D. , Pedersen, N. L. , Plomin, R. , & McClearn, G. E. (in press). Longitudinal and crosssectional twin data on cognitive abilities in adulthood: The Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Developmental Psychology.

Harris, J. R. , Pedersen, N. L. , McClearn, G. E. , Plomin, R. ,& Nesselroade, J. R. (1992). Age differences in genetic and environmental influences for health from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 47, P213-P220.

Heller, D. A. , Pedersen, N. L. , de Faire, U. , & McClearn, G. E. (1994). Genetic and environmental correlations among serum lipids and apolipoproteins in elderly twins reared together and apart. American Journal of Human Genetics, 55, 1255-1267.

Hewitt, J. K. , & Turner, J. R. (1995). Behavior genetic approaches in behavioral medicine: An introduction. In J. R. Turner , L. R. Cardon , & J. K. Hewitt (Eds.), Behavior genetic approaches in behavioral medicine(pp. 3-13). New York: Plenum.

10.

Idler, E. L. (1993). Age differences in self-assessments of health: Age changes, cohort differences, or survivorship? Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 48(6), S289-S300.

11.

Idler, E. L. , & Kasl, S. (1991). Health perceptions and survival: Do global evaluations of health status really predict mortality? Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 46(2), S55-S65.

12.

Jöreskog, K. G. , & Sörbom, D. (1993). Lisrel 8: Reference guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International.

13.

McClearn, G. E. ,& Heller, D. A. (in press). Genetics and aging. In S. Manuck & A. Baum (Eds.), Health, behavior, and aging. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

14.

McClearn, G. E. , Johansson, B. , Berg, S. , Pedersen, N. L. , Ahern, F. , Petrill, S. A. ,& Plomin, R. (1997). Substantial genetic influence on cognitive abilities in twins 80 or more years old. Science, 276, 1560-1563.

15.

McGue, M. ,& Bouchard, T. J., Jr. (1984). Adjustment of twin data for the effects of age and sex. Behavior Genetics, 14, 325-343.

16.

Morse, C. K. (1993). Does variability increase with age? An archival study of cognitive measures. Psychology and Aging, 8, 156-164.

17.

Mossey, J. M. , & Shapiro, E. (1982). Self-rated health: A predictor of mortality among the elderly. American Journal of Public Health, 72, 800-808.

18.

Neale, M. C. , & Cardon, L. R. (1992). Methodology for genetic studies of twins and families. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.

19.

Nelson, E. A. , & Dannefer, D. (1992). Aged heterogeneity: Fact or fiction? The fate of diversity in gerontological research. The Gerontologist, 32(1), 17-23.

20.

SAS Institute . (1989). SAS/STAT user’s guide(Version 6, 4th ed., Vol. 2). Cary, NC: Author.

21.

Schaie, K. S. ,& Baltes, P. B. (1996). Intellectual development in adulthood: The Seattle longitudinal study. New York: Cambridge University Press.

22.

Simmons, S. F. , Johansson, B. , Zarit, S. H. , Ljungquist, B. , Plomin, R. , & McClearn, G. E. (1997). Selection bias in samples of older twins? A comparison between octogenarian twins and singletons in Sweden. Journal of Aging and Health, 9, 553-567.

23.

Sims, J. , Hewitt, J. K. , Kelly, K. A. , Carroll, D. , & Turner, J. R. (1986). Familial and individual influences on blood pressure. Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae (Roma), 35, 7-21.

The Importance of Genetic and Environmental Effects for Self-Reported Health Symptoms

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References