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

P.A. Demange, J.J. Hottenga, A. Abdellaoui, E.M. Eilertsen, M. Malanchini, B.W. Domingue, E. Armstrong-Carter, E.L. de Zeeuw, K. Rimfeld, D.I. Boomsma, E. van Bergen, G. Breen, M.G. Nivard, R. Cheesman

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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.
Original languageEnglish
Article number4801
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalNature Communications
Volume13
Issue number1
Early online date23 Aug 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2022

Funding

FundersFunder number
Foundation Volksbond Rotterdam849200011
ODISSEINRGWI.obrug.2018.008
Open Data Infrastructure for Social Science and Economic Innovations
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen
SSGAC531003014
National Institutes of HealthAG046938
National Institute of Mental HealthR01MH120219
Wellcome Trust213514/Z/18/Z
Medical Research CouncilMR/V012878/1, MR/M021475/1
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van WetenschappenPAH/6635, 451-15-017
ZonMw
Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek0240-001-003, VI.Veni.191 G.030
Jacobs Foundation480-15-001/674
Norges forskningsråd288083
Avera Institute for Human Genetics

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