Synonyms
Definition
In population and behavioral genetics, gene-environment correlation occurs when genetic variance and environmental variance are correlated in a heritability analysis. This happens when there is an association between an individual’s genetic background and their environment, resulting in an association between environmental and genetic differences at a population level.
Introduction
Heritability (H2) is a statistical parameter that estimates how much variation in a trait or phenotype within a population is due to genetic differences between individuals in that population. To arrive at an estimate, variation is encompassed in the statistical term variance. H2 is summarized as the proportion of genetic variance (VG) (as opposed to environmental variance (VE)) that accounts for phenotypic variance (VP) (Eq. 1):
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Lynch, K. (2016). Gene-Environment Correlation. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1470-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1470-1
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