Estimating effects of parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores

Perline A. Demange (), Jouke Jan Hottenga, Abdel Abdellaoui, Espen Moen Eilertsen, Margherita Malanchini, Benjamin W. Domingue, Emma Armstrong-Carter, Eveline L. Zeeuw, Kaili Rimfeld, Dorret I. Boomsma, Elsje Bergen, Gerome Breen, Michel G. Nivard and Rosa Cheesman ()
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Perline A. Demange: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Jouke Jan Hottenga: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Abdel Abdellaoui: University of Amsterdam
Espen Moen Eilertsen: University of Oslo
Margherita Malanchini: Queen Mary University of London
Benjamin W. Domingue: Stanford University
Emma Armstrong-Carter: Stanford University
Eveline L. Zeeuw: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Kaili Rimfeld: King’s College London
Dorret I. Boomsma: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Elsje Bergen: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Gerome Breen: King’s College London
Michel G. Nivard: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Rosa Cheesman: University of Oslo

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Understanding how parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is essential for educational, family and economic policy. We use genetics (GWAS-by-subtraction) to assess a latent, broad non-cognitive skills dimension. To index parental effects controlling for genetic transmission, we estimate indirect parental genetic effects of polygenic scores on childhood and adulthood educational outcomes, using siblings (N = 47,459), adoptees (N = 6407), and parent-offspring trios (N = 2534) in three UK and Dutch cohorts. We find that parental cognitive and non-cognitive skills affect offspring education through their environment: on average across cohorts and designs, indirect genetic effects explain 36–40% of population polygenic score associations. However, indirect genetic effects are lower for achievement in the Dutch cohort, and for the adoption design. We identify potential causes of higher sibling- and trio-based estimates: prenatal indirect genetic effects, population stratification, and assortative mating. Our phenotype-agnostic, genetically sensitive approach has established overall environmental effects of parents’ skills, facilitating future mechanistic work.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32003-x

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x

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