TY - JOUR
T1 - Heritability in political interest and efficacy across cultures
T2 - Denmark and the United States
AU - Klemmensen, Robert
AU - Hatemi, Peter K.
AU - Hobolt, Sara B.
AU - Skytthe, Axel
AU - Norgaard, Asbjorn S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Danish twin study is funded by a grant from the Velux Foundation & the Globalization Grant at the Department of Political Science, SDU. The Minnesota Twin Study was collected with the financial support of the National Science Foundation in the form of SES-0721378. Data analysis was supported by the NSF (1047687 and 0921008).
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - Interest in politics is important for a host of political behaviors and beliefs. Yet little is known about where political interest comes from. Most studies exploring the source of political interest focus on parental influences, economic status, and opportunity. Here, we investigate an alternative source: genetic transmission. Using two twin samples, one drawn from Denmark and the other from USA, we find that there is a high degree of heritability in political interest. Furthermore, we show that interest in politics and political efficacy share the same underlying, latent genetic factor. These findings add to the growing body of literature that documents political behaviors and attitudes as not simply the result of socialization, but also as part of an individual's genetically informed disposition.
AB - Interest in politics is important for a host of political behaviors and beliefs. Yet little is known about where political interest comes from. Most studies exploring the source of political interest focus on parental influences, economic status, and opportunity. Here, we investigate an alternative source: genetic transmission. Using two twin samples, one drawn from Denmark and the other from USA, we find that there is a high degree of heritability in political interest. Furthermore, we show that interest in politics and political efficacy share the same underlying, latent genetic factor. These findings add to the growing body of literature that documents political behaviors and attitudes as not simply the result of socialization, but also as part of an individual's genetically informed disposition.
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U2 - 10.1375/twin.15.1.15
DO - 10.1375/twin.15.1.15
M3 - Article
C2 - 22784449
AN - SCOPUS:84865598234
SN - 1832-4274
VL - 15
SP - 15
EP - 20
JO - Twin Research and Human Genetics
JF - Twin Research and Human Genetics
IS - 1
ER -