Social support and mental health in late adolescence are correlated for genetic, as well as environmental, reasons.

ABSTRACT: Late adolescence is a crucial, but underexplored, developmental stage with respect to the aetiology of social support. These individuals are experiencing many major life changes and social support can help them adjust to the associated environmental stressors of this time. Using 1,215 18-year-old twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study, we collected measures of two indices of support: support quality and support quantity, as well as wellbeing and depression. Both support indices were moderately heritable (55% and 49%, respectively), an interesting finding given the many environmental changes that late adolescents are encountering that could be environmentally altering their social network structures. Finding a genetic influence on support suggests the presence of gene-environment

SUBMITTER: Wang RAH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5638798 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature