Arno Van Hootegem 🌱

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...

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!

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! 🤓

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...

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...

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...

I don’t think developmental, diversity or environmental perspectives are seriously considered by these companies. They just promise genetic selection on certain life outcomes, which as you say does not work. But even worse it legitimises a normative ranking or ordering in society on certain traits.

Figure showing event-study plots centred around the birth of one's first grandchild. The left plot shows health changes, the right shows labour market changes (separated by grandparent gender).

The image shows the following abstract: The Cost of Caring: Gendered Health and Labour Market Effects of Grandparenthood While the effects of the transition to parenthood are well-researched, less is known about how the transition to grandparenthood affects health and labour market outcomes. Using comprehensive Norwegian register data covering the entire population born between 1950 and 1960, we examine the effects of first-born grandchildren born during 2007–2018. Employing event-study models with person-year records, we compare grandparents to not-yet grandparents. Our findings reveal a sharp increase in the likelihood of respiratory infections during the first two years of grandparenthood, with infections increasing by 56% for women and 31% for men. Additionally, grandparenthood modestly reduces the likelihood of doctor’s visits related to mental disorders (4.5%) and cardiovascular health (3.3%). Grandmothers also see a decline in musculoskeletal-related visits (3.8%). These health-related changes coincide with notable gendered effects on labour market participation. Ten years after the birth of their first grandchild, employed women are 12% less likely to hold full-time positions compared to a 2% reduction for men. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the transition to grandparenthood significantly reshapes health and economic outcomes for both women and men. The larger effects observed for women likely reflect their greater involvement in informal childcare provision. Our results underscore the intersection of health, family dynamics, and gendered labour market behaviours in late adulthood.

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...

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...

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

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

Congratulations, this is amazing! Hope it was a wonderful day!

Published in @europeansocreview.bsky.social and written together with Adrian Rogne, @carolinecros.bsky.social , @olerogeberg.bsky.social and @torkildl.bsky.social

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

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!

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...

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.

Genetics and Social Sciences Conference 2025 - Department of Psychology Genetics and Social Sciences Conference 12–13th June 2025

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

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

👇🧵

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! 🙌

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

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?

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...

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 💔

A special thanks to @plison.bsky.social for being the driving force behind this!

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
👎👎👎👎

Would love to be added too if there is still space!

👋🏻🙏

Could you add me as well?

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