Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: A summary genetic measure, called a "polygenic score," derived from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of education can modestly predict a person's educational and economic success. This prediction could signal a biological mechanism: Education-linked genetics could encode characteristics that help people get ahead in life. Alternatively, prediction could reflect social history: People from well-off families might stay well-off for social reasons, and these families might also look alike genetically. A key test to distinguish biological mechanism from social history is if people with higher education polygenic scores tend to climb the social ladder beyond their parents' position. Upward mobility would indicate education-linked genetics encodes characteristics that foster success. We tested if education-linked polygenic scores predicted social mobility in >20,000 individuals in five longitudinal studies in the United States, Britain, and New Zealand. Participants with higher polygenic scores achieved more education and career success and accumulated more wealth. However, they also tended to come from better-off families. In the key test, participants with higher polygenic scores tended to be upwardly mobile compared with their parents. Moreover, in sibling-difference analysis, the sibling with the higher polygenic score was more upwardly mobile. Thus, education GWAS discoveries are not mere correlates of privilege; they influence social mobility within a life. Additional analyses revealed that a mother's polygenic score predicted her child's attainment over and above the child's own polygenic score, suggesting parents' genetics can also affect their children's attainment through environmental pathways. Education GWAS discoveries affect socioeconomic attainment through influence on individuals' family-of-origin environments and their social mobility.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Jacobs Foundation, Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Office of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: G1151036099, G1289651063, G1748805038, G1792944704, G2354122497, G2462977380, G3410034061, Neuropsychological and genomic signatures of violence exposure in childhood, G4036427723, G4154018034, The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, G4293858528, G4312987371, Creating a National Resource for Genetic Research in Behavioral & Health Sciences, A Longitudinal Resource for Genetic Research in Behavioral & Health Sciences, G5003644646, G5701737369, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G6093077308, G6112268827, Expanding a National Resource for Genetic Research in Behavioral & Health Science, G62587543, G6656489629, Add Health: A Genotype and Phenotype Resource for the Global Scientific Community, Mental Health Leadership Fellow - The impact of social relationships in the 21st century on mental health and wellbeing, Midlife Pace of Aging in the Dunedin Study, Social Demographic Moderation of Genome Wide Associations for Body Mass Index, G7883804441, G8130013924, G8520235670, G8968736666, Health and Retirement Study: Yrs 35-40, Duke Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, Aging in 1000 healthy midlife adults: Phase 52 of the Dunedin Study, Center for Demography of Health and Aging
OpenAlex ID: W2848694795