Journal club: Genes, society, and health
Posted by Lance Gravlee on April 22nd, 2009 in Journal club | 1 Comment »
This week we wrap up journal club for the semester with an article that’s sure to keep you thinking all summer long:
Pescosolido, B. A., Perry, B. L., Long, J. S., Martin, J. K., Nurnberger Jr., J., & Hesselbrock, V. (2008). Under the influence of genetics: How transdisciplinarity leads us to rethink social pathways to illness. American Journal of Sociology, 114(S1), S171-S201.
This article tries to advance our thinking about the complex interplay between genetic and social influences on health. We are fortunate to have geneticist Amy Non lead our discussion on Friday, 11:45 a.m. – 12:35 p.m., in the Department Conference Room (1208 Turlington Hall).
One Response
Wow, what a rich article! I think it’s really cool how they empirically test all their social theories with alcoholism as a test case – as it’s so clearly affected by both genes and environment. The best summary statement of all their conclusions is: “Genes matter. Social structures and experiences matter.”
I think some of their most interesting sub-points include:
1) genetic and social effects change little in the presence of the other (suggesting genes and society are not confounded).
2) GABRA2 causes increased risk only in men, perhaps because cultural tolerance sets men up to drink more, so the gene’s expression is more noticeable in men.
3) Family networks, but not friendship networks, reduce affect of alcohol dependence.
4) If GABRA2 is expressed more in men, then stressful life circumstances and lack of social safety net encourage them to turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism.
Be careful in reading this to keep track of cause and effect: its easy to confuse the two. Sometimes they say the gene actually causes worse life circumstances, and sometimes vice versa, depending on the theory.
Also, any idea what they mean in emphasizing the importance of intradisciplinary in addition to interdisciplinary perspectives?