%0 Journal Article %J Frontiers in Sociology %D 2019 %T Using Polygenic Scores in Social Science Research: Unraveling Childlessness %A Verweij, Renske M. %A Melinda C Mills %A Stulp, Gert %A Ilja M Nolte %A Nicola Barban %A Felix C Tropf %A Carrell, Douglas T. %A Aston, Kenneth I. %A Krina T Zondervan %A Rahmioglu, Nilufer %A Dalgaard, Marlene %A Skaarup, Carina %A Hayes, M. Geoffrey %A Dunaif, Andrea %A Guo, Guang %A Snieder, Harold %K childlessness %K polygenic score %K social science %X Biological, genetic, and socio-demographic factors are all important in explaining reproductive behavior, yet these factors are typically studied in isolation. In this study, we explore an innovative sociogenomic approach, which entails including key socio-demographic (marriage, education, occupation, religion, cohort) and genetic factors related to both behavioral [age at first birth (AFB), number of children ever born (NEB)] and biological fecundity-related outcomes (endometriosis, age at menopause and menarche, polycystic ovary syndrome, azoospermia, testicular dysgenesis syndrome) to explain childlessness. We examine the association of all sets of factors with childlessness as well as the interplay between them. We derive polygenic scores (PGS) from recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and apply these in the Health and Retirement Study (N = 10,686) and Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 8,284). Both socio-demographic and genetic factors were associated with childlessness. Whilst socio-demographic factors explain 19–46% in childlessness, the current PGS explains <1% of the variance, and only PGSs from large GWASs are related to childlessness. Our findings also indicate that genetic and socio-demographic factors are not independent, with PGSs for AFB and NEB related to education and age at marriage. The explained variance by polygenic scores on childlessness is limited since it is largely a behavioral trait, with genetic explanations expected to increase somewhat in the future with better-powered GWASs. As genotyping of individuals in social science surveys becomes more prevalent, the method described in this study can be applied to other outcomes. %B Frontiers in Sociology %V 4 %P 74 %G eng %U https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00074 %R 10.3389/fsoc.2019.00074 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2016 %T Genome-wide analysis identifies 12 loci influencing human reproductive behavior. %A Nicola Barban %A Jansen, Rick %A de Vlaming, Ronald %A Vaez, Ahmad %A Mandemakers, Jornt J %A Felix C Tropf %A Shen, Xia %A James F Wilson %A Daniel I Chasman %A Ilja M Nolte %A Tragante, Vinicius %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Perry, John R B %A Kong, Augustine %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Albrecht, Eva %A Laura M Yerges-Armstrong %A Atzmon, Gil %A Auro, Kirsi %A Kristin L. Ayers %A Bakshi, Andrew %A Ben-Avraham, Danny %A Klaus Berger %A Bergman, Aviv %A Bertram, Lars %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Bjornsdottir, Gyda %A Bonder, Marc Jan %A Broer, Linda %A Bui, Minh %A Barbieri, Caterina %A Cavadino, Alana %A Chavarro, Jorge E %A Turman, Constance %A Maria Pina Concas %A Cordell, Heather J %A Gail Davies %A Eibich, Peter %A Eriksson, Nicholas %A Tõnu Esko %A Eriksson, Joel %A Falahi, Fahimeh %A Felix, Janine F %A Mark Alan Fontana %A Lude L Franke %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gaskins, Audrey J %A Gieger, Christian %A Gunderson, Erica P %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Caroline Hayward %A He, Chunyan %A Edith Hofer %A Huang, Hongyan %A Joshi, Peter K %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Karlsson, Robert %A Kiechl, Stefan %A Kifley, Annette %A Kluttig, Alexander %A Kraft, Peter %A Lagou, Vasiliki %A Lecoeur, Cecile %A Lahti, Jari %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Penelope A Lind %A Tian Liu %A Makalic, Enes %A Mamasoula, Crysovalanto %A Lindsay K Matteson %A Mbarek, Hamdi %A McArdle, Patrick F %A McMahon, George %A Meddens, S Fleur W %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Michael B Miller %A Missmer, Stacey A %A Monnereau, Claire %A van der Most, Peter J %A Myhre, Ronny %A Michael A Nalls %A Nutile, Teresa %A Ioanna Panagiota Kalafati %A Porcu, Eleonora %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Rajan, Kumar B %A Rich-Edwards, Janet %A Cornelius A Rietveld %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rueedi, Rico %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Saba, Yasaman %A Schmidt, Daniel %A Jennifer A Smith %A Stolk, Lisette %A Streeten, Elizabeth %A Tönjes, Anke %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Wedenoja, Juho %A Jürgen Wellmann %A Willeit, Peter %A Yao, Jie %A Yengo, Loic %A Jing Hua Zhao %A Wei Zhao %A Zhernakova, Daria V %A Amin, Najaf %A Andrews, Howard %A Balkau, Beverley %A Barzilai, Nir %A Bergmann, Sven %A Biino, Ginevra %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Bønnelykke, Klaus %A Dorret I Boomsma %A Buring, Julie E %A Campbell, Harry %A Cappellani, Stefania %A Ciullo, Marina %A Cox, Simon R %A Francesco Cucca %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Davey-Smith, George %A Ian J Deary %A George Dedoussis %A Deloukas, Panos %A Cornelia M van Duijn %A Eco J. C. de Geus %A Johan G Eriksson %A Jessica Faul %A Cinzia Felicita Sala %A Froguel, Philippe %A Paolo P. Gasparini %A Giorgia G Girotto %A Hans-Jörgen Grabe %A Greiser, Karin Halina %A Groenen, Patrick J F %A de Haan, Hugoline G %A Haerting, Johannes %A Tamara B Harris %A Andrew C Heath %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Hofman, Albert %A Homuth, Georg %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A John L Hopper %A Hyppönen, Elina %A Jacobsson, Bo %A Vincent Jaddoe %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Jugessur, Astanand %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kajantie, Eero %A Sharon L R Kardia %A Keavney, Bernard %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koponen, Päivikki %A Kovacs, Peter %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A La Bianca, Martina %A Lachance, Genevieve %A Iacono, William G %A Lai, Sandra %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A David C Liewald %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Yongmei Liu %A Luben, Robert %A Lucht, Michael %A Luoto, Riitta %A Magnus, Per %A Patrik K E Magnusson %A Nicholas G Martin %A McGue, Matt %A McQuillan, Ruth %A Sarah E Medland %A Meisinger, Christa %A Mellström, Dan %A Andres Metspalu %A Traglia, Michela %A Lili Milani %A Mitchell, Paul %A Grant W Montgomery %A Dennis O Mook-Kanamori %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Nohr, Ellen A %A Ohlsson, Claes %A Olsen, Jørn %A Ong, Ken K %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Pattie, Alison %A Brenda W J H Penninx %A Markus Perola %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Pirastu, Mario %A Polasek, Ozren %A Power, Chris %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Katri Räikkönen %A Olli T Raitakari %A Ridker, Paul M %A Ring, Susan M %A Roll, Kathryn %A Rudan, Igor %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Rujescu, Dan %A Veikko Salomaa %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schupf, Nicole %A Johannes H Smit %A Sorice, Rossella %A Timothy Spector %A John M Starr %A Stöckl, Doris %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Swertz, Morris A %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A A. Roy Thurik %A Nicholas J Timpson %A Tung, Joyce Y %A André G Uitterlinden %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A Viikari, Jorma %A Vitart, Veronique %A Völzke, Henry %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Waage, Johannes %A Wagner, Gert G %A Wang, Jie Jin %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A David R Weir %A Gonneke Willemsen %A Willeit, Johann %A Alan F Wright %A Krina T Zondervan %A Stefansson, Kari %A Krueger, Robert F %A Lee, James J %A Daniel J. Benjamin %A Cesarini, David %A Philipp D Koellinger %A den Hoed, Marcel %A Snieder, Harold %A Melinda C Mills %X

The genetic architecture of human reproductive behavior-age at first birth (AFB) and number of children ever born (NEB)-has a strong relationship with fitness, human development, infertility and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, very few genetic loci have been identified, and the underlying mechanisms of AFB and NEB are poorly understood. We report a large genome-wide association study of both sexes including 251,151 individuals for AFB and 343,072 individuals for NEB. We identified 12 independent loci that are significantly associated with AFB and/or NEB in a SNP-based genome-wide association study and 4 additional loci associated in a gene-based effort. These loci harbor genes that are likely to have a role, either directly or by affecting non-local gene expression, in human reproduction and infertility, thereby increasing understanding of these complex traits.

%B Nat Genet %V 48 %P 1462-1472 %8 2016 Dec %G eng %N 12 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27798627?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.3698