Genetic and environmental influences on social support in later life: A longitudinal analysis

The present study assessed the etiology of individual differences in social support over a six-year period. The availability of friend support, family support, and the perceived adequacy of the social support network was asse ssed three times using identical and same-gender fraternal twins reared tog ether and reared apart from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Resul ts are based on the pairwise responses at the three occasions of measuremen t (labeled Q1, Q2, and Q3): 462 pairs at Q1 (assessed October 1984), 474 pa irs at Q2 (October 1987), and 431 pairs at Q3 (October 1990). The longitudi nal phenotypic correlations (ranging from .49 to .77) indicate that social support is a moderately stable characteristic. Qualitative genetic model-fi tting analyses resulted in significant heritability estimates for the socia l support measures at all three measurement occasions. Results also indicat e considerable stability in genetic effects across measurement occasions, w ith genetic correlations ranging from .65 to .97. Nonshared environmental i nfluences were substantial contributors to social support, but were less st able across the measurement occasions, with correlations ranging from .07 t o .52.