The Rookie Retiree By Renee Langmuir: Family Coincidences…. Or Is There A Genetic Component In Career Choice?

At the tender age of 74, I am becoming more of a fan of the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s words: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” One of the glories of retirement is the opportunity to reflect on so many previously mystifying life events.

One of these subjects was triggered by the recent birth of a little girl in the family. It had me reflecting in overdrive on the “coincidence” of so many young people in my circle who share similar careers with their parents. Both of this little girl’s parents are designers, one interior and one industrial. Her grandmother is a working artist, and her deceased great-grandfather was a city planner. Even before doing my research, I knew this little girl had great potential to have artistic talents. Besides the genetic predisposition, her grandmother sent me a photo of the baby in a cradle surrounded by a granny-made stark, black and white graphic bumper, a newborn visual favorite! The baby has the market cornered on “nature/nurture!”

Taking a quick, unscientific inventory, in my own nuclear family, populated by one religious educator and one educator/writer, my son has a degree in social work, and my daughter has been working for many years as a culinary writer. My close friend, who was a ballet dancer and whose husband is an oncologist, has an opera singer daughter and an EMT son. The mom has a sister who sang in local Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas, capitalizing on her family talent. 

My brother and his wife, who have an MD and PhD between them, surprisingly have a son who is a professional ballroom dancing teacher, owing homage to his grandfather and great uncle who were Vaudevillians and later owned a talent agency. Finally, a new volunteer buddy has an entire family in some way related to the pharmaceutical field: two daughters in sales, an ex-husband in package engineering, and my friend herself a former nurse who was a healthcare CFO. I hope you will take a moment to take an informal survey of young adults in your circle!

What does science say about heritability of traits?

The cause for these quirks of fate may reside in one’s genes, the elements which determine a person’s hereditary makeup. DNA sequences are passed down through the generations, which encourage a specific biofunction, or character trait. The commonly inherited traits are musicality, artistic talent, analytical, critical, and creative thinking, and communication skills. These are the bridges to those chosen family careers.

The litmus test for these understandings is the historically productive twin studies in the field of psychology, which compare identical and fraternal twins raised apart or together. Such studies have identified the above traits, and a shocking 50-92% heritability of exceptional talent in math or music.

Seminal Studies

Anna Vinkhuyzen et al and Tinca JC Polderman et al, through their exhaustive studies, have solidified the idea that humans are not blank slates at birth. This is somewhat encouraging to me when I consider the fact that a career in STEM never really was a possibility for me or my children.

Vinkhuyzen et al looked at 1685 pairs of adolescents and young adult twins for genetic evidence of outstanding levels of arts, music, writing, math, sports, and memory knowledge. She looked at the specific DNA sequences related to artistic and other forms of creativity, intellectual capacity, physical endurance, and literacy.

Polderman et al did an exhaustive 50-year meta-study (a look at all the twin studies related to genetic influence, encompassing 14.5 million twin pairs and 17,804 traits), literally every measurable human trait, and concluded that most human talents show substantial genetic influence. Heritability for exceptional talent is much higher than more mundane attributes. While music and math had the highest heritability, knowledge had the lowest number of genetic markers, as it was more dependent on environment. 

The reasoning in the world of evolutionary biology is that humans developed varying, productive traits which enabled the tribe to survive! If everyone had the same trait, survival would be that much more difficult.

How are Career Choices Affected?

The venerated research into heritable traits includes many more human qualities which can affect career choice:

Novelty and Risk Taking –integral traits for entrepreneurs, business start-ups, investors, stock traders, and extreme sports people

Sociability/Empathy – found in relationship-driven fields such as nursing, social work, teaching, and public relations

Analytical Processing – a profile shared by STEM and tech folks, data analysts, engineers, financial analysts, and scientific researchers

Physical Stamina – superior muscular traits necessary for athletes, dancers, laborers, and firefighters

Spatial Awareness – a talent required by architects and designers 

Dr. Scott Shane has researched how heritable traits affect career satisfaction and success. He finds that identical twins raised apart are more likely to choose similar careers than fraternal twins raised together.

He offers practical advice as a consultant to businesses. Managers would benefit from knowing their employees’ preferences, which have a genetic component. These can be observed in “workplace wellbeing,” or how an employee handles emotions and demands in the office. He also finds a genetic component to interest in managing others, finance, job-changing history, values, interests, leadership abilities, response to incentives, workspace styles, and dealing with authority.

What does this research tell us about our circle of friends and family?

Perhaps you are thinking you wish you had this information earlier in your life when you could have had an influence on your children or other loved ones. Luckily for young people making their own life choices, knowing one’s predispositions does not necessarily dictate the future. Genes set up a range of possible outcomes, but interest, effort, the environment, and opportunity heavily influence where one might land. No doubt, two people with different genetic heritages can find themselves in the same careers with the nonheritable employee who demonstrated sustained effort and took advantage of available opportunities.

Extensive research has proven that genetics encourage one to seek specific environments. As a parent, grandparent, or friend, I hope you might find the choices of the adult children in your circle more in tune with their natural tendencies than any heavy-handed messages they received in their environment. In the age of AI, it is comforting that we all have a wellspring of talents anonymously bequeathed by our ancestors. Sorry, large language models – you are out of luck!

Renee Langmuir was an educator for 34 years in public schools and at the university level. After an unplanned retirement, Renee chronicled her transition to retirement through a series of personal essays. As challenges arose, research was done, and essays were penned, all helping her gain perspective in this new landscape. These reflections are housed on the website,  https://www.therookieretiree.com. She writes from both a research and mindfulness basis. Renee is excited to receive your feedback and comments! Please contact her at [email protected].