Familial clustering of healthy lifestyle behaviors in Lifelines

The family functions as an ecosystem for learning health practices that could last throughout an individual’s lifespan through modelling of lifestyle behaviors. The shared household environment, such as the availability of nutritional food and exercise equipment, together with genetic materials, may place family members at similar risks for chronic diseases. Focusing on both the family and the individual to effect health promotion will prove more synergistic than efforts targeted at the individual alone. This study aims to investigate the intergenerational transmission and clustering of healthy lifestyle behaviors in family units, and explore potential genetic factors related to such intergenerational correlation.