The Genetic Basis of Social Networks and Civic Engagement

公民参与是指参与社区或政治组织和活动的趋势，目的是实现有利于一个群体的结果。直到最近，大多数学者都认为个体学习参与是环境因素的结果。例如，孩子可以从父母那里学到投票是他们的责任；碰巧出生在高收入家庭的人可能会接受更多的教育，可能有更多的时间和资源用于公民参与；政府的规定可能因地而异，这使得参与公民生活变得更容易或更困难。然而，尽管这种几乎一门心思地强调环境因素，但有理由相信，公民参与也可能有遗传原因。在早期人类社会中，个人参与群体活动的能力可能会影响其在困难中生存的能力。这表明，我们如何与朋友、邻居和大家庭成员建立社会联系，以及我们参与群体活动的意愿，可能是有遗传基础的。在这个项目中，数据来自国家青少年健康纵向研究（AddHealth），以了解基因如何影响社会关系和我们参与社区的意愿。第一个目标是研究同卵双胞胎和异卵双胞胎的差异，以了解基因是否在投票、公民活动和社区参与中发挥了广泛的作用。研究人员检查了与社会行为有关的特定基因的影响，以确定它们是否会影响公民参与。第二个目标是观察基因是否会影响我们与朋友、家人和邻居形成的社会网络类型。这项研究使用同卵双胞胎和异卵双胞胎来研究遗传性的广泛作用，并研究特定基因的数据，试图分离出我们观察到的特定影响。第三个目标是了解基因影响公民参与的程度，因为它们影响我们的社会关系。社会关系可以影响社区或政治组织和活动的参与，因为它们创造了参与的机会。例如，更受欢迎的人可能会被更频繁地邀请加入团体。因此，如果基因同时影响公民参与和社会网络，那么可能是基因首先影响我们的社会生活，进而影响我们参与公民生活的意愿。这项工作应该对美国等民主国家的政治生活产生重大而广泛的影响。特别是，这项研究可能会改变我们对父母和其他政治社会化代理人在鼓励（或阻碍）公民参与方面的作用的看法。公民和政治领导人经常对参与程度的下降表示担忧，从选民投票率下降到公民和政治团体的参与减少到“独自打保龄球”的频率增加。了解基因和社会网络如何共同影响我们的行为，可能有助于我们设计出有助于增加公民参与的补救措施。

Civic engagement is the tendency to become involved with community or political organizations and activities aimed at achieving an outcome that benefits a group. Until recently, most scholars thought that individuals learn to participate as a result of environmental factors. For example, children may learn from their parents that it is their duty to vote; people who happen to be born into high income families may acquire more education and may have more time and resources to devote to civic participation; and government rules may differ from place to place, making it easier or harder to become involved in civic life. However, in spite of this almost single-minded emphasis on environmental factors, there are reasons to believe that civic engagement may also have genetic causes. In early human societies, an individual''s capacity to participate in group activities probably had an effect on the capacity to survive hardship. This suggests there may be a genetic basis to how we form social connections with our friends, neighbors, and members of our extended family as well as our willingness to participate in group activities.In this project, data is used from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) to understand how genes might affect social ties and our willingness to get involved in our communities. The first aim is to study differences in identical and fraternal twins in order to learn whether genes play a broad role in voting, civic activities, and community involvement. The effects of specific genes that have been linked to social behavior are examined to see whether or not they influence civic engagement. The second aim is to see whether or not genes affect the kinds of social networks we form with friends, family, and neighbors. The study uses identical and fraternal twins to study the broad role of heritability and data on specific genes to try to isolate the specific effects we observe. The third aim is to learn the extent to which genes influence civic engagement because they influence our social relationships. Social ties can affect participation in community or political organizations and activities because they create opportunities to become involved. For example, people who are more popular may be asked more often to join groups. Thus, if genes influence both civic engagement and social networks, it may be that genes first affect our social life, which in turn affects how willing we are to participate in civic life.This work should have a significant broader impact for political life in democracies, like the United States. In particular, the research could change how we think about the role of parents and other agents of political socialization in encouraging (or discouraging) civic engagement. Civic and political leaders frequently express concern about declining levels of engagement, from lower voter turnout to reduced participation in civic and political groups to the increased frequency of "bowling alone." Understanding how genes and social networks combine to affect our behavior may help us to design remedies that help increase civic engagement.