Companies are now selling genetic testing on IVF-created embryos to select ‘your best baby’. We argue that this presents a new source of pressure for parents and will widen reproductive inequalities! In @nathumbehav.nature.com with @gaiaghirardi.bsky.social and @kph3k.bsky.social!

Embryo screening and the new reproductive divide

Nature Human Behaviour - Embryo screening and the new reproductive divide

nature.com

Kathryn Paige Harden@kph3k.bsky.social · last mo.

"Instead of needing a village to raise a child, PGT-P’s commercial logic suggests it takes only sufficient capital and the right consumer decisions to conceive a child who will not need the solidarity of the village to be healthy." www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New preprint from my stay at @invest-flagship.bsky.social! 🧐 Do genes moderate earning declines following endogenous and exogenous job loss? 📉 Those with a higher PGI for depression experience a larger drop in earnings, but only for exogenous job loss 🧠 We discuss implications for GxE! 🧬

@annanhelgoy.bsky.social & I wrote about our recent article with Lou Timlin for @theconversation.com Our research shows that family-friendly policies such as remote working and care reimbursement increase women councillors' willingness to run for office again. theconversation.com/being-a-coun...

Being a councillor is still a difficult career for women – why this matters for democracy

The fixes could be cheap and easy, though.

theconversation.com

Six years after publishing my first PhD article in Social Justice Research, I am now joining their editorial team as an associate editor 👨🏻‍💻 Can’t wait to be on the other side of ‘awaiting editorial decision’ 🫣

Our project "Struggling Women and Men: Political-Democratic Gender Gaps in a High-trust Welfare State" is looking for a PhD fellow. www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

PhD Research Fellowship in Political Science (3-4 years) (303073) | University of Oslo

Job title: PhD Research Fellowship in Political Science (3-4 years) (303073), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Tuesday, September 1, 2026

jobbnorge.no

How do people learn about equality of opportunity? 🤔 Through their own experiences, their family & friends and the media! 👯‍♂️ Individuals who experienced upward mobility and those who frequently watch reality TV perceive more equality. 📺 With @a-gugushvili.bsky.social as wonderful lead author!

What Are the Channels of Equality of Opportunity Perceptions in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom? - Alexi Gugushvili, Arno Van Hootegem, 2026

Views on equality of opportunity influence perceptions of fairness and redistributive attitudes, and yet the sources associated with these views remain underexp...

journals.sagepub.com

So happy to have been part of this project! 😍 We show that parental divorce increases children’s risk of separation, but this intergenerational cycle of divorce is in part due to environmental and genetic confounding! 🙃 With the brilliant @rutheva.bsky.social and @torkildl.bsky.social! 🤓

Ruth Eva Jørgensen@rutheva.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New @jmfncfr.bsky.social paper w/ @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social & @torkildl.bsky.social! Triangulating adoption- and CoT-designs, we find that parental 💔 has minimal impact on children's partnership formation but increases their risk of partnership dissolution. doi.org/10.1111/jomf...

reposting for the Monday crowd— This week in my newsletter I discussed the “Have your best baby” campaign by Nucleus Genomics as an example of what @gaiaghirardi.bsky.social and @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social have called “commodification on steroids” open.substack.com/pub/kathrynp...

Who wants to join us in Oslo to study how health influences educational underperformance? We are hiring PhDs postdocs candidates for our funded project. We will follow children from birth to emerging adulthood, using behavioural genetic methods and large datasets 945000.webcruiter.no/Main/Recruit...

Two positions as either PhD or postdoctoral fellow on health determinants of education

Do you want to research how health influences school performance and leads to intergenerational inequality? We have two vacant 3-year positions as a PhD fellow or postdoctoral research fellow in the p...

945000.webcruiter.no

New preprint📈📉 What happens to health and work when people become grandparents? Using Norwegian register data on all individuals born 1950-1960, we use event-study models comparing grandparents to not-yet grandparents to track changes in health and labour supply. 🔗 www.ssrn.com/abstract=571...

There’s a new kid in town! Companies are now selling IVF and embryo selection based on genetic testing for traits related to health and even intelligence. We outline methodological and ethical concerns, and warn against risks for social inequality. With the fantastic @gaiaghirardi.bsky.social

Embryo selection based on polygenic prediction risks reinforcing social inequality

The rise of companies offering embryo selection based on genetic testing has triggered heated debate about ethical acceptability, as well as the accuracy and scientific validity of these techniques. W...

fertstert.org

Interdisciplinary paper with @paulhufe.net Astrid Sandsør and Nicolai Borgen now out in PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.... Causal evidence of gene-environment interaction for reading test scores based on: 🧬 Exogenous within-family genetic differences 🏫 Exogenous variation in school value added

How much of the intergenerational transmission of SES is due to social factors? To answer this, shared 🧬 between parents and children need to be considered. In our new study, we use two designs to account for genetic confounding. We find that roughly 20 percent is due to social factors!

Social origins and socioeconomic outcomes: a combined twin and adoption study

Abstract. Parents and children tend to have similar socioeconomic status (SES). Sociological theory has often emphasized the role of social mechanisms in i

academic.oup.com

Proud of @annanhelgoy.bsky.social, who just won the King's Gold Medal at @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social. I highly recommend reading her wonderful research on the gendered division of (un)paid labor and its political consequences.

Anna Nordnes Helgøy awarded the King's Gold Medal for dissertation on gender division in private and public spheres - Department of Political Science

– It is a great honour to receive recognition for a doctoral dissertation on gender equality at a time when the American president is actively working against research in this field, says Anna Nordnes...

sv.uio.no

In Oslo? We still have some seats left for our conference on Social Science and Genetics on the 12-13th June! More info and registration: www.sv.uio.no/psi/english/... @uio.no

Genetics and Social Sciences Conference 2025 - Department of Psychology

Genetics and Social Sciences Conference 12–13th June 2025

sv.uio.no

New preprint out on the link between gratitude and wellbeing: who benefits most and under what circumstances? Across four studies with 220,314 individuals from 67 countries, we investigated whether individual, contextual, or cultural differences moderated this relationship. osf.io/preprints/ps...

New pub (w/ @fabriberna.bsky.social) highlighting how family socioeconomic background plays a key role in shaping genetic associations: advantaged families both compensate for and amplify their children’s genetic propensities for education doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2025.103174 👇🧵

Fabrizio Bernardi@fabriberna.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our paper with @gaiaghirardi.bsky.social is now out at SSR! Have a look if you are interested in social stratification and/or sociogenomics Below are the main findings and contributions 1/6 doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...

The times they are A-changin’! Today marks the end of my time as a postdoc at @uio.no! Enjoyed working on social science genetics with @torkildl.bsky.social! On to a postdoc at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health to work on inequalities in mental health with @jowoern.bsky.social!

New article out by these two fantastic scholars! 👏 They find that the mental load is highly gendered and erodes labour market and political participation. Give it a read! 🙌

Anna Helgøy@annanhelgoy.bsky.social · 2y ago

New article w brilliant @anacweeks.bsky.social on the mental load and effects on public participation out in @bjpols.bsky.social! Ana summarizes the article nicely in the thread below 👇

Happy to see my new paper out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social!

JEPP Journal@jeppjournal.bsky.social · 2y ago

Does politicizing redistribution increase support for equality? 🤔 @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social investigates—and finds no direct link. But greater party polarization? That deepens ideological divides over equality. Food for thought to start the new week 👇

If you are in Norway: Hosting a seminar on changing cognition - over time and over the lifespan. Feb 13th at 17.00 downtown Oslo. @olerogeberg.bsky.social @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social @PabloFGarrido @UiO_Lifesci www.uio.no/om/aktuelt/u...

Kognisjon i endring: Kognitive evner over tid og gjennom livet - Universitetet i Oslo

Mens unge skåret høyere og høyere på kognitive tester i årene etter andre verdenskrig, har dette nå snudd. Hvilke konsekvenser vil dette kunne ha?

uio.no

My firstborn PhD paper is out 🎉 with @rosacheesman.bsky.social @torkildl.bsky.social and Ole Andreassen. Higher genetic dispositions for EA and sociodemographic factors decrease the risk of partnership dissolution, while dispositions for internalizing symptoms and risk behavior increase the risk 💔

Sociological Science@sociologicalsci.bsky.social · 2y ago

NEW: Ruth Eva Jørgensen, Rosa Cheesman, Ole A. Andreassen, Torkild Hovde Lyngstad , "The Genetics of Partnership Dissolution."

Wrote a poem for my favorite train company, @deutsche-bahn.bsky.social ❤️

New article in Journal of Social Policy with the amazing @annanhelgoy.bsky.social. We ask: What explains preferences for different types of family policy? We find: Justice perceptions on the division of physical, but not mental, household labour do!

There is a new study showing that women are substantially underrepresented in tenured positions (with country and field variation). At the same time we know that women do more academic service work and take up a disproportional amount of household labour. So higher burdens, less reward 👎👎👎👎

Sociological Science@sociologicalsci.bsky.social · 2y ago

NEW: Mana Nakagawa, Christine Min Wotipka, Elizabeth Buckner, "Opportunities for Faculty Tenure at Globally Ranked Universities: Cross-National Differences by Gender, Fields, and Tenure Status"

An acceptance feels extra nice when co-authored with your partner and best friend! Stay tuned for our paper on formative experiences and perceptions of system abuse, soon in EJPR! This is a new level of assortative mating/friendship. @annanhelgoy.bsky.social @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social

Super excited to see my first PhD paper published! It looks into the welfare attitudes of part-time workers, and finds that through their experience of financial partner dependency, they prefer optional familialism in family policy. It’s open access! Here: academic.oup.com/sp/advance-a...

1/ Curious about the influence of public services on political distrust and populist support? Check out our latest article in Public Management Review featuring @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social and @staffankumlin.bsky.social , all from UiOslo doi.org/10.1080/1471... plsky polisky policysky

🚨JOB ALERT 🚨 We're hiring 3 postdocs for the new Einstein Center Population Diversity. Work with a fantastic team of social scientists and biomedical researchers in the city of Berlin! Details: bit.ly/3RX0GpZ Apply by Feb 7 & dm or email for questions.

Two weeks left to apply! Organized with @rutheva.bsky.social @gaiaghirardi.bsky.social, Torkild Lyngstad and Karri Silventoinen. We will have presentations by Gregory Clark, Evelina Akimova and @fctropf.bsky.social! So apply to join this exciting group in Oslo. Accommodation and food are covered!

Arno Van Hootegem 🌱@arnovanhootegem.bsky.social · 3y ago

We are hosting a workshop on how genetics can help to understand social structures, especially in interaction with environments! Apply before the end of the year if you want to join us in beautiful Oslo!