Abstract
Attitudes towards foreign policy have typically been explained by ideological and demographic factors. We approach this study from a different perspective and ex amine the extent to which foreign policy preferences correspond to genetic variation. Using data from the Minnesota Twin Family Study, we show that a moderate share of individual differences in the degree to which one's foreign policy preferences are hawkish or dovish can be attributed to genetic variation. We also show, based on a bivariate twin model, that foreign policy preferences share a common genetic source of variation with political ideology. This result presents the possibility that ideology may be the causal pathway through which genes affect foreign policy preferences.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 52-59 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Twin Research and Human Genetics |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2012 |
Keywords
- ACE
- Cholesky
- bivariate
- foreign policy preferences
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Genetics(clinical)