A polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout

Christopher T. Dawes; Aysu Okbay; Sven Oskarsson; Aldo Rustichini

doi:10.1073/pnas.2022715118

A polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout

Christopher T. Dawes^*, Aysu Okbay, Sven Oskarsson, Aldo Rustichini

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Twin and adoption studies have shown that individual difference in political participation can be explained, in part, by geneti variation. However, these research designs cannot identify whic genes are related to voting or the pathways through which the exert influence, and their conclusions rely on possibly restrictiv assumptions. In this study, we use three different US sample and a Swedish sample to test whether genes that have bee identified as associated with educational attainment, one of th strongest correlates of political participation, predict self-reporte and validated voter turnout. We find that a polygenic scor capturing individuals’ genetic propensity to acquire education i significantly related to turnout. The strongest associations w observe are in second-order midterm elections in the United State and European Parliament elections in Sweden, which tend t be viewed as less important by voters, parties, and the medi and thus present a more information-poor electoral environmen for citizens to navigate. A within-family analysis suggests tha individuals’ education-linked genes directly affect their votin behavior, but, for second-order elections, it also reveals evidenc of genetic nurture. Finally, a mediation analysis suggests that ed ucational attainment and cognitive ability combine to account fo between 41% and 63% of the relationship between the geneti propensity to acquire education and voter turnout.

Original language	English
Article number	e2022715118
Number of pages	7
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	118
Issue number	50
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022715118
Publication status	Published - 14 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileums-fond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240).

Funding Information:
S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Funding

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileums-fond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240). S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240).

Funders	Funder number
MCTFR
National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements	U01 AG071448
Riksbankens Jubileums-fond	P18-0782:1
National Institute of Mental Health	MH066140
National Institute on Drug Abuse	DA013240, DA05147
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism	AA09367, AA11886
National Institute on Aging	R01 AG060737, R01 AG041868, R01 AG033285, U01AG071450, R01 AG009775
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development	P01HD031921
University of North Carolina Wilmington	P01 HD31921
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Vetenskapsrådet	2019-00244, 2017-02472
Riksbankens Jubileumsfond

Keywords

Cognitive ability
Education
Polygenic score
Turnout
Voting

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1073/pnas.2022715118

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Cite this

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title = "A polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout",

abstract = "Twin and adoption studies have shown that individual difference in political participation can be explained, in part, by geneti variation. However, these research designs cannot identify whic genes are related to voting or the pathways through which the exert influence, and their conclusions rely on possibly restrictiv assumptions. In this study, we use three different US sample and a Swedish sample to test whether genes that have bee identified as associated with educational attainment, one of th strongest correlates of political participation, predict self-reporte and validated voter turnout. We find that a polygenic scor capturing individuals{\textquoteright} genetic propensity to acquire education i significantly related to turnout. The strongest associations w observe are in second-order midterm elections in the United State and European Parliament elections in Sweden, which tend t be viewed as less important by voters, parties, and the medi and thus present a more information-poor electoral environmen for citizens to navigate. A within-family analysis suggests tha individuals{\textquoteright} education-linked genes directly affect their votin behavior, but, for second-order elections, it also reveals evidenc of genetic nurture. Finally, a mediation analysis suggests that ed ucational attainment and cognitive ability combine to account fo between 41% and 63% of the relationship between the geneti propensity to acquire education and voter turnout.",

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author = "Dawes, {Christopher T.} and Aysu Okbay and Sven Oskarsson and Aldo Rustichini",

note = "Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileums-fond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240). Funding Information: S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.",

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A polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

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Cite this