Sex Differences in Genetic and Environmental Influences on Percent Body Fatness and Physical Activity

White, Erin; Slane, Jennifer D.; Klump, Kelly L.; Burt, S. Alexandra; Pivarnik, James M.

doi:10.1123/jpah.2012-0221

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…These factors include differences in the early shared (family) environment and differences in genetic makeup. Twin and family studies are in support of a significant role of genetic and shared environmental factors in the regulation of both physical activity behavior [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and early motor development [12,[33][34][35]. The heritability estimates of physical activity behavior strongly depend on the age of the child, with the shared (family) environment playing the largest role in childhood, but decreasing into adolescence, where genetic factors explain the largest part of variance in physical activity [18,36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Genetic confounding in the association of early motor development with childhood and adolescent exercise behavior

Zi,

Bartels,

Dolan

et al. 2024

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

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Introduction Early motor development has been found to be a predictor of exercise behavior in children and adolescents, but whether this reflects a causal effect or confounding by genetic or shared environmental factors remains to be established. Methods For 20,911 complete twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register a motor development score was obtained from maternal reports on the timing of five motor milestones. During a 12-year follow-up, subsamples of the mothers reported on the twins’ ability to perform seven gross motor skills ability (N = 17,189 pairs), and weekly minutes of total metabolic equivalents of task (MET) spent on sports and exercise activities at age 7 (N = 3632 pairs), age 10 (N = 3735 pairs), age 12 (N = 7043 pairs), and age 14 (N = 3990 pairs). Multivariate phenotypic and genetic regression analyses were used to establish the predictive strength of the two motor development traits for future exercise behavior, the contribution of genetic and shared environmental factors to the variance in all traits, and the contribution of familial confounding to the phenotypic prediction. Results Significant heritability (h2) and shared environmental (c2) effects were found for early motor development in boys and girls (h2 = 43-65%; c2 = 16-48%). For exercise behavior, genetic influences increased with age (boys: h2age7 = 22% to h2age14 = 51%; girls: h2age7 = 3% to h2age14 = 18%) paired to a parallel decrease in the influence of the shared environment (boys: c2age7 = 68% to c2age14 = 19%; girls: c2age7 = 80% to c2age14 = 48%). Early motor development explained 4.3% (p < 0.001) of the variance in future exercise behavior in boys but only 1.9% (p < 0.001) in girls. If the effect in boys was due to a causal effect of motor development on exercise behavior, all of the factors influencing motor development would, through the causal chain, also influence future exercise behavior. Instead, only the genetic parts of the regression of exercise behavior on motor development were significant. Shared and unique environmental parts of the regression were largely non-significant, which is at odds with the causal hypothesis. Conclusion No support was found for a direct causal effect in the association between rapid early motor development on future exercise behavior. In boys, early motor development appears to be an expression of the same genetic factors that underlie the heritability of childhood and early adolescent exercise behavior.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Genetic confounding in the association of early motor development with childhood and adolescent exercise behavior

Zi,

Bartels,

Dolan

et al. 2024

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, other studies using complex twin models showed inconsistent results regarding the additive components of genetic, unique, and shared environmental factors for BMI and WC across different populations [7–9]. Furthermore, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) from twin studies consistently show higher monozygotic twins' resemblance than in dizygotic twins of both sexes for BMI [9–11], WC [9, 10], and %BF [8]. Additionally, data from nuclear families revealed that ICC values depend on the kinship structure [12–15] and may vary from 0.15 (spouses) to 0.44 (father-daughter) in BMI, 0.11 (father-daughter) to 0.53 (siblings) in WC, and 0.05 (spouses) to 0.34 (both father-daughter and mother-daughter) in %BF.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change and Stability in Sibling Resemblance in Obesity Markers: The Portuguese Sibling Study on Growth, Fitness, Lifestyle, and Health

et al. 2019

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Background/Objectives Obesity markers evolve over time and these changes are shared within the family orbit and governed by individual and environmental characteristics. Available reports often lack an integrated approach, in contrast to a multilevel framework that considers their concurrent influence. Hence, this study aims to (1) describe mean changes in obesity markers (body fat (%BF), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC)) across sib-ships; (2) analyze tracking of individuals within their sib-ship in these markers during 2 years of follow-up; (3) probe consistency in sibling resemblance in these markers; and (4) analyze the joint influence of individual and familial characteristics in these markers. Subjects/Methods The sample comprises 168 biological Portuguese siblings (brother-brother (BB), sister-sister (SS), and brother-sister (BS)) aged 9–17 years. %BF, BMI, and WC were measured using standardized protocols, and biological maturation was assessed. Physical activity, diet, screen time, and familial characteristics were obtained by questionnaires. Multilevel models were used to analyze the clustered longitudinal data. Sibling resemblance was estimated with the intraclass correlation. Results On average, all sib types increased in BMI and WC over 2 years of follow-up, and SS pairs increased in %BF. Individuals within sib-ships track high in all obesity markers across time. Consistency in siblings' resemblance was also noted, except for BB pairs in %BF which decreased at follow-up. More maturing siblings tend to have higher values in all markers. Greater screen time was associated with higher %BF, whereas those consuming more sugary drinks had lower %BF and BMI values. Siblings whose mothers had less qualified occupations tended to have lower BMI values. Conclusions Longitudinal individual tracking and sibling resemblance for obesity markers were found. Yet, different trajectories were also identified depending on the marker and sib type. Individual and familial characteristics exert different influences on each obesity marker.

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Genetics of physical activity and physical fitness

Schutte

Bartels

Geus³

2017

Oxford Textbook of Children's Sport and Exercise Medicine

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Regular physical activity and fitness are key contributors to children’s health. It is important to understand sources of variation in phenotypes seen among children and adolescents. It is important to calculate the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors to observed individual differences. Heritability estimates of physical activity vary, depending on sample size and measurement instrument, but the overall importance of environmental factors seems to decrease in adolescence, whereas genetic effects become more prominent. Twin and family studies show that individual differences in maximal oxygen uptake, muscle strength, flexibility, and balance are affected by genetic factors. Some evidence is found for specific genes coding for physical activity and fitness, but children and adolescent studies are limited. Future research should prioritize these target groups as knowledge of the source of individual differences in physical activity and fitness at different time points can optimize the choice and timing of exercise intervention.

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Sex Differences in Genetic and Environmental Influences on Percent Body Fatness and Physical Activity

Abstract: When developing interventions to increase PA in adolescents, it is important to consider the environment in which it takes place as it is the primary contributor to PA levels.

Cited by 3 publications

References 32 publications

Genetic confounding in the association of early motor development with childhood and adolescent exercise behavior

Genetic confounding in the association of early motor development with childhood and adolescent exercise behavior

Change and Stability in Sibling Resemblance in Obesity Markers: The Portuguese Sibling Study on Growth, Fitness, Lifestyle, and Health

Genetics of physical activity and physical fitness

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