Gene-by-SES Interplay in Health Behavior: Theory and Empirics
Smoking and obesity are the top-two leading causes of preventable disease and death in the US and significant sources of the substantial disparities in health between socioeconomic status (SES) groups. Using recent discoveries of genetic variants exhibiting credible and robust associations with smoking and obesity, we construct poligenic risk scores (PGS) and evaluate whether these genetic variants mediate the effects of childhood SES in determining adult risky health behaviors. We find substantial protective effect of childhood SES for those genetically at risk of smoking but not so for obesity. However, the extent of the interplay between genes and the socio-economic environment varies with the number of genetic-variants included in the PGS. We interpret these empirical results through the lenses of a canonical economic model of health formation and addiction, extended to include genetic heterogeneity. #5477