Genetic differences in religiousness and extra-familial environmental influences increased with age, whereas shared environmental influences within families declined – in particular in the first half of life

 A meta-analytic review of nature and nurture in religiousness across the lifespan. Christian Kandler. Current Opinion in Psychology, September 23 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.09.011

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1308988159901003786

Abstract: Behavior genetic research yielded that affiliation to a specific religion is primarily environmental, whereas religious beliefs and practices irrespective of a specific religion have been found to be heritable to some degree. This review synthesizes the literature and provides a meta-analytic overview on all identified behavior genetic studies on religiousness since 1999. This analysis allows new insight on the nature–nurture interplay in the development of religiousness: Genetic differences in religiousness and extra-familial environmental influences increased with age, whereas shared environmental influences within families declined – in particular in the first half of life. This age trend is in line with the interpretation of an increasing importance of active gene–environment transactions and accumulating extra-familial environmental factors across the lifespan.