Abstract
With recent advances in understanding of the neuroscience of risk taking, attention is now turning to genetic factors that may contribute to individual heterogeneity in risk attitudes. In this paper we test for genetic associations with risk attitude measures derived from both the psychology and economics literature. To develop a long-term prospective study, we first evaluate both types of risk attitudes and find that the economic and psychological measures are poorly correlated, suggesting that different genetic factors may underlie human response to risk faced in different behavioral domains. We then examine polymorphisms in a spectrum of candidate genes that affect neurotransmitter systems influencing dopamine regulation or are thought to be associated with risk attitudes or impulsive disorders. Analysis of the genotyping data identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene encoding the alpha 4 nicotine receptor (CHRNA4, rs4603829 and rs4522666) that are significantly associated with harm avoidance, a risk attitude measurement drawn from the psychology literature. Novelty seeking, another risk attitude measure from the psychology literature, is associated with several COMT (catechol-O-methyl transferase) SNPs while economic risk attitude measures are associated with several VMAT2 (vesicular monoamine transporter) SNPs, but the significance of these associations did not withstand statistical adjustment for multiple testing and requires larger cohorts. These exploratory results provide a starting point for understanding the genetic basis of risk attitudes by considering the range of methods available for measuring risk attitudes and by searching beyond the traditional direct focus on dopamine and serotonin receptor and transporter genes.
Highlights
Risk attitudes have been correlated to a broad array of financial, employment, health, safety and social decisions made by humans, including financial investments, insurance coverage, smoking, drinking, sport participation, migration and self-employment status [1],[2],[3]
Given the emerging interest in risk attitude measures at the nexus of economics, psychology and neurology, attention is turning to possible genetic factors that contribute to individual heterogeneity in risk attitudes
Such an interest is buttressed by twin studies that have estimated the heritability of risk attitudes near 20% among a Swedish sample [15] and near 60% among a Chinese sample [16], and by twin studies that estimate the heritability of pathological gambling, which has been estimated near 60% in a U.S sample [17]
Summary
Risk attitudes have been correlated to a broad array of financial, employment, health, safety and social decisions made by humans, including financial investments, insurance coverage, smoking, drinking, sport participation, migration and self-employment status [1],[2],[3]. Given the emerging interest in risk attitude measures at the nexus of economics, psychology and neurology, attention is turning to possible genetic factors that contribute to individual heterogeneity in risk attitudes. Such an interest is buttressed by twin studies that have estimated the heritability of risk attitudes near 20% among a Swedish sample [15] and near 60% among a Chinese sample [16], and by twin studies that estimate the heritability of pathological gambling, which has been estimated near 60% in a U.S sample [17]. Several studies have attempted to associate risk attitudes with particular genotypes. These studies differ in terms of how risk attitude is defined and measured and in terms of types of genetic variation investigated
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