父親の年齢が高いと息子はオタクになりやすい

（ＣＮＮ） 知的能力や集中力が高い半面、社交は苦手とされる「ギーク」（おたく、マニア）の傾向は、男の子の場合、父親の年齢が高いほど強くなるとの研究結果が発表された。

研究チームによれば、ギークは一般的に社交は苦手だがずば抜けた知性を持つ人を指す言葉。肯定的な意味で使われることが多い。チームは１２歳の双子７７８１組を対象に、非言語式の知能検査の結果と限定的、反復的な行動、対人関係への関心の低さを点数化して「ギーク指数」を出した。

その結果、ギークと判定された子の５７％は、この傾向を親から受け継いでいることが分かった。

特に男の子のギーク指数は、その子ができた時の父親の年齢が35歳を超えると明らかに高くなり始めるという。父親が51歳以上の時にできた男の子は、父親が25歳未満の時の子に比べ、理系分野で高得点を取る確率が32％も高かった。

一方、女の子のギーク指数と父親の年齢との間に目立った関連性は見つからなかった。

研究をまとめた共同執筆者の１人、米マウントサイナイ医科大学シーバー自閉症研究センターのマグダレナ・ジャネッカ博士によると、この研究では女の子のギークの定義が十分に把握されていなかった可能性がある。あるいは、女の子にはギークの傾向を打ち消すような生物学的な特性が備わっているとも考えられるという。

過去の研究では、親の年齢が高いと子どもの自閉症や統合失調症が多くなるとの可能性が指摘されてきた。ジャネッカ博士は「高年齢の父親が罪悪感に悩まないよう、この研究のようにプラス面を示すことは重要だ」と話す。

New Research Suggests Older Dads Have “Geekier” Sons

Mount Sinai study suggests that this gives them certain advantages over their peers

New York, NY (June 20, 2017) Sons of older fathers are more intelligent, more focused on their interests, and less concerned about fitting in, all characteristics typically seen in “geeks,” according to research conducted at The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published on June 20 in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

While previous research has shown that children of older fathers are at higher risk of some adverse outcomes, including autism and schizophrenia, this new study suggests that these children may also have certain advantages over their peers in educational and career settings.

Researchers from The Seaver Autism Center and King’s College London collected behavioral and cognitive data from 15,000 UK-based twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). When the twins were 12 years old, they completed online tests that measured what the researchers called “geek-like” traits, including non-verbal IQ, strong focus on a subject of interest, and levels of social aloofness. Parents were also asked whether their child cared about how they were perceived by peers and whether the child had interests that took up a substantial amount of time. Using this information, the researchers computed a “geek index” for every child in the study.

The study team found that overall, higher “geek index” scores were reported in the sons of older fathers. This effect existed even after controlling for the parent’s social/economic status, qualifications and employment. In addition, researchers found that these children did better on school exams, particularly in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, several years after their index was measured.

“Our study suggests that kids of older men are not only smarter, but also better able to adapt to environments that require dedicated pursuit of one’s goals, characteristics that promote educational and, likely, career success,” says Magdalena Janecka, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at The Seaver Center. “We think it’s particularly important to acknowledge the benefits associated with older fathers, as these results will help better inform us about the links between higher paternal age, autism, and the positive characteristics identified in the study.”

The new results may have implications for understanding the links between higher paternal age, autism, and characteristics typically seen in “geeks.” Future work will study the hypothesis that some of the genes that are more likely to be present in older fathers may contribute to either "geekiness" or autism, depending on how many of them the child inherits.

“When a child inherits only some of those genes, they may be more likely to succeed in school, but with a higher ‘dose’ of these genes, and when there are other contributing risk factors, they may end up with a higher predisposition for autism,” explains Dr. Janecka. “Recent research shows that some of the genes for autism are also linked with higher IQ so future studies will investigate that connection even further.”

This study was funded in part by the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation.

About the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai

The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai conducts progressive research studies aimed at understanding the multiple causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The multidisciplinary team is composed of experts in the fields of genetics, molecular biology, model systems, neuroimaging, biomarkers, diagnosis, and experimental therapeutics who are dedicated to discovering the biological causes of ASD. The Center strives to develop innovative diagnostics and treatments for integration into the provision of personalized, comprehensive assessment and care for people with ASD. The Seaver Autism Center was founded through the generous support of the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation. For more information, visit www.seaverautismcenter.org.