Examining Social Genetic Effects on Educational Attainment via Parental Educational Attainment, Income, and Parenting

Jinni Su, Sally I.Chun Kuo, Angel Trevino, Peter B. Barr, Fazil Aliev, Kathleen Bucholz, Grace Chan, Howard J. Edenberg, Samuel Kuperman, Dongbing Lai, Jacquelyn L. Meyers, Gayathri Pandey, Bernice Porjesz, Danielle M. Dick

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Higher parental educational attainment is associated with higher offspring educational attainment. In this study, we incorporated genotypic and phenotypic information from fathers, mothers, and offspring to disentangle the genetic and socioenvironmental pathways underlying this association. Data were drawn from a sample of individuals of European ancestry from the collaborative study on the genetics of alcoholism (n = 4,089; 51% female). Results from path analysis indicated that paternal and maternal educational attainment genome-wide polygenic scores were associated with offspring educational attainment, above and beyond the effect of offspring education polygenic score. Parental educational attainment, income, and parenting behaviors served as important socioenvironmental pathways that mediated the effect of parental education polygenic score on offspring educational attainment. Our study highlights the importance of using genetically informed family studies to disentangle the genetic and socioenvironmental pathways underlying parental influences on human development.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1340-1350
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Family Psychology
Volume36
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 6 2022

Keywords

  • Education
  • Genetic nurturing
  • Intergenerational transmission
  • Polygenic association
  • Social genetic effects

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Examining Social Genetic Effects on Educational Attainment via Parental Educational Attainment, Income, and Parenting'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this