Enlisting in the Military: The Influential Role of Genetic Factors

Authors

Kevin M. Beaver, Florida State University
J. C. Barnes, University of Cincinnati
Joesph A. Schwartz, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Brian B. Boutwell, Saint Louis University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Publication Title

SAGE Open

Volume

2015

Issue

1-8

Abstract

Given that enlistment in the U.S. military is completely voluntary, there has been a great deal of interest in identifying the various factors that might explain why some people join the military, whereas others do not. The current study expanded on this line of literature by estimating the extent to which genetic and environmental factors explained variance in the liability for lifetime participation in the military. Analysis of twin pairs drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) revealed that 82% of the variance was the result of genetic factors, 18% of the variance was the result of nonshared environmental factors, and none of the variance was accounted for by shared environmental factors. In light of a number of limitations, replication studies are needed to determine the robustness of these findings and whether they are generalizable to other samples and populations.

Comments

© The Author(s) 2015

DOI: 10.1177/2158244015573352

Recommended Citation

Beaver, Kevin M.; Barnes, J. C.; Schwartz, Joesph A.; and Boutwell, Brian B., "Enlisting in the Military: The Influential Role of Genetic Factors" (2015). Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications. 79.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/criminaljusticefacpub/79

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.