Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment: an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts

Karri Silventoinen; Aline Jelenkovic; Reijo Sund; Antti Latvala; Chika Honda; Fujio Inui; Rie Tomizawa; Mikio Watanabe; Norio Sakai; Esther Rebato; Andreas Busjahn; Jessica Tyler; John L. Hopper; Juan R. Ordoñana; Juan F. Sánchez-Romera; Lucia Colodro-Conde; Lucas Calais-Ferreira; Vinicius C. Oliveira; Paulo H. Ferreira; Emanuela Medda; Lorenza Nisticò; Virgilia Toccaceli; Catherine A. Derom; Robert F. Vlietinck; Ruth J.F. Loos; Sisira H. Siribaddana; Matthew Hotopf; Athula Sumathipala; Fruhling Rijsdijk; Glen E. Duncan; Dedra Buchwald; Per Tynelius; Finn Rasmussen; Qihua Tan; Dongfeng Zhang; Zengchang Pang; Patrik K.E. Magnusson; Nancy L. Pedersen; Anna K. Dahl Aslan; Amie E. Hwang; Thomas M. Mack; Robert F. Krueger; Matt McGue; Shandell Pahlen; Ingunn Brandt; Thomas S. Nilsen; Jennifer R. Harris; Nicholas G. Martin; Sarah E. Medland; Grant W. Montgomery; Gonneke Willemsen; Meike Bartels; Catharina E.M. van Beijsterveldt; Carol E. Franz; William S. Kremen; Michael J. Lyons; Judy L. Silberg; Hermine H. Maes; Christian Kandler; Tracy L. Nelson; Keith E. Whitfield; Robin P. Corley; Brooke M. Huibregtse; Margaret Gatz; David A. Butler; Adam D. Tarnoki; David L. Tarnoki; Hang A. Park; Jooyeon Lee; Soo Ji Lee; Joohon Sung; Yoshie Yokoyama; Thorkild I.A. Sørensen; Dorret I. Boomsma; Jaakko Kaprio

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6

Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment: an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts

Karri Silventoinen^*, Aline Jelenkovic, Reijo Sund, Antti Latvala, Chika Honda, Fujio Inui, Rie Tomizawa, Mikio Watanabe, Norio Sakai, Esther Rebato, Andreas Busjahn, Jessica Tyler, John L. Hopper, Juan R. Ordoñana, Juan F. Sánchez-Romera, Lucia Colodro-Conde, Lucas Calais-Ferreira, Vinicius C. Oliveira, Paulo H. Ferreira, Emanuela MeddaLorenza Nisticò, Virgilia Toccaceli, Catherine A. Derom, Robert F. Vlietinck, Ruth J.F. Loos, Sisira H. Siribaddana, Matthew Hotopf, Athula Sumathipala, Fruhling Rijsdijk, Glen E. Duncan, Dedra Buchwald, Per Tynelius, Finn Rasmussen, Qihua Tan, Dongfeng Zhang, Zengchang Pang, Patrik K.E. Magnusson, Nancy L. Pedersen, Anna K. Dahl Aslan, Amie E. Hwang, Thomas M. Mack, Robert F. Krueger, Matt McGue, Shandell Pahlen, Ingunn Brandt, Thomas S. Nilsen, Jennifer R. Harris, Nicholas G. Martin, Sarah E. Medland, Grant W. Montgomery, Gonneke Willemsen, Meike Bartels, Catharina E.M. van Beijsterveldt, Carol E. Franz, William S. Kremen, Michael J. Lyons, Judy L. Silberg, Hermine H. Maes, Christian Kandler, Tracy L. Nelson, Keith E. Whitfield, Robin P. Corley, Brooke M. Huibregtse, Margaret Gatz, David A. Butler, Adam D. Tarnoki, David L. Tarnoki, Hang A. Park, Jooyeon Lee, Soo Ji Lee, Joohon Sung, Yoshie Yokoyama, Thorkild I.A. Sørensen, Dorret I. Boomsma, Jaakko Kaprio

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

Abstract

We investigated the heritability of educational attainment and how it differed between birth cohorts and cultural–geographic regions. A classical twin design was applied to pooled data from 28 cohorts representing 16 countries and including 193,518 twins with information on educational attainment at 25 years of age or older. Genetic factors explained the major part of individual differences in educational attainment (heritability: a² = 0.43; 0.41–0.44), but also environmental variation shared by co-twins was substantial (c² = 0.31; 0.30–0.33). The proportions of educational variation explained by genetic and shared environmental factors did not differ between Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia. When restricted to twins 30 years or older to confirm finalized education, the heritability was higher in the older cohorts born in 1900–1949 (a² = 0.44; 0.41–0.46) than in the later cohorts born in 1950–1989 (a² = 0.38; 0.36–0.40), with a corresponding lower influence of common environmental factors (c² = 0.31; 0.29–0.33 and c² = 0.34; 0.32–0.36, respectively). In conclusion, both genetic and environmental factors shared by co-twins have an important influence on individual differences in educational attainment. The effect of genetic factors on educational attainment has decreased from the cohorts born before to those born after the 1950s.

Original language	English
Article number	12681
Pages (from-to)	1-11
Number of pages	11
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	10
Issue number	1
Early online date	29 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6
Publication status	Published - 29 Jul 2020

Funding

This study was conducted within the CODATwins project. We thank Wendy Cozen, University of Southern California, for sharing data with us. Funding for collaborators: Netherlands Twin Register acknowledges the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and MagW/ZonMW grants 904-61-090, 985-10-002, 912-10-020, 904-61-193,480-04-004, 463-06-001, 451-04-034, 400-05-717, Addiction-31160008, Mid-delgroot-911-09-032, Spinozapremie 56-464-14192; VU University’s Institute for Health and Care Research (EMGO+); the European Research Council (ERC - 230374), the Avera Institute, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (USA). Data collection and analyses in Finnish twin cohorts have been supported by ENGAGE – European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology, FP7-HEALTH-F4-2007, Grant Agreement Number 201413, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA-12502, AA-00145, and AA-09203 to R J Rose, the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (Grant Numbers: 213506, 129680), and the Academy of Finland (Grants 100499, 205585, 118555, 141054, 265240, 263278 and 264146 to J Kaprio). Since its origin the East Flanders Prospective Survey has been partly supported by grants from the Fund of Scientific Research, Flanders and Twins, a non-profit Association for Scientific Research in Multiple Births (Belgium). Anthropometric measurements of the Hungarian twins were supported by Medexpert Ltd., Budapest, Hungary. The Murcia Twin Registry is supported by Fundación Séneca, Regional Agency for Science and Technology, Murcia, Spain (08633/ PHCS/08, 15302/PHCS/10 & 19479/PI/14) and Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (PSI2009-11560 & PSI2014-56680-R). K Silventoinen is supported by Osaka University’s International Joint Research Promotion Program. We acknowledge The Swedish Twin Registry for access to data. The Swedish Twin Registry is managed by Karolinska Institutet and receives funding through the Swedish Research Council under the grant no 2017-00641. This research was facilitated through access to Twins Research Australia, a national resource supported by a Centre of Research Excellence Grant (ID: 1079102), from the National Health and Medical Research Council. California Twin Program was supported by The California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (7RT-0134H, 8RT-0107H, 6RT-0354H) and the National Institutes of Health (1R01ESO15150-01). The Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging (CAATSA) was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (grant 1RO1-AG13662-01A2) to K. E. Whitfield. Colorado Twin Registry is funded by NIDA funded center grant DA011015, & Longititudinal Twin Study HD10333; Author Huibregtse is supported by 5T32DA017637 and 5T32AG052371. Washington State Twin Registry (formerly the University of Washington Twin Registry) was supported in part by grant NIH RC2 HL103416 (D. Buchwald, PI). Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging was supported by National Institute of Health grants NIA R01 AG018384, R01 AG018386, R01 AG022381, and R01 AG022982, and, in part, with resources of the VA San Diego Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health. The Cooperative Studies Program of the Office of Research & Development of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has provided financial support for the development and maintenance of the Vietnam Era Twin (VET) Registry. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIA/NIH, or the VA. The NAS-NRC Twin Registry acknowledges financial support from the National Institutes of Health grant number R21 AG039572. Korean Twin-Family Register was supported by the Global Research Network Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF 2011-220-E00006). Osaka University Aged Twin Registry is supported by grants from JSPS KAKENHI JP (23593419, 24792601, 26671010, 24590695, 26293128, 16K15385, 16K15978, 16K15989, 16H03261).

Funders	Funder number
Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics	213506, 129680
Avera Institute
FP7-HEALTH-F4-2007	201413
Fund of Scientific Research, Flanders and Twins
Medexpert Ltd.
Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain	PSI2009-11560, PSI2014-56680-R
National Institute of Health
National Research Foundation
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
Regional Agency for Science and Technology, Murcia, Spain	15302/PHCS/10, 08633/ PHCS/08, 19479/PI/14
VU University’s Institute for Health and Care Research
National Institutes of Health	1R01ESO15150-01, RC2 HL103416
National Institute on Drug Abuse	5T32DA017637, 5T32AG052371, DA011015, HD10333
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism	AA-00145, AA-09203, AA-12502
National Institute on Aging	R01 AG022381, 1RO1-AG13662-01A2, R01 AG018384, R01 AG022982, R01 AG018386
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences	R01ES015150
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs	R21 AG039572
Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program	6RT-0354H, 8RT-0107H
Office of Research and Development
Fundación Séneca
European Research Council	ERC - 230374
National Health and Medical Research Council
National Research Foundation	2011-220-E00006
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science	16K15978, 16K15989, 24590695, 16H03261, 16K15385, 26293128, 23593419, 26671010, 24792601
Academy of Finland	141054, 264146, 205585, 118555, 263278, 265240, 100499
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	463-06-001, 904-61-090, 904-61-193,480-04-004, 400-05-717, 451-04-034, 985-10-002, 56-464-14192, 912-10-020
Karolinska Institutet
Osaka University
Vetenskapsrådet	2017-00641, 1079102

Cohort Studies

Netherlands Twin Register (NTR)

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Silventoinen, K., Jelenkovic, A., Sund, R., Latvala, A., Honda, C., Inui, F., Tomizawa, R., Watanabe, M., Sakai, N., Rebato, E., Busjahn, A., Tyler, J., Hopper, J. L., Ordoñana, J. R., Sánchez-Romera, J. F., Colodro-Conde, L., Calais-Ferreira, L., Oliveira, V. C., Ferreira, P. H., ... Kaprio, J. (2020). Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment: an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-11. Article 12681. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6

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abstract = "We investigated the heritability of educational attainment and how it differed between birth cohorts and cultural–geographic regions. A classical twin design was applied to pooled data from 28 cohorts representing 16 countries and including 193,518 twins with information on educational attainment at 25 years of age or older. Genetic factors explained the major part of individual differences in educational attainment (heritability: a2 = 0.43; 0.41–0.44), but also environmental variation shared by co-twins was substantial (c2 = 0.31; 0.30–0.33). The proportions of educational variation explained by genetic and shared environmental factors did not differ between Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia. When restricted to twins 30 years or older to confirm finalized education, the heritability was higher in the older cohorts born in 1900–1949 (a2 = 0.44; 0.41–0.46) than in the later cohorts born in 1950–1989 (a2 = 0.38; 0.36–0.40), with a corresponding lower influence of common environmental factors (c2 = 0.31; 0.29–0.33 and c2 = 0.34; 0.32–0.36, respectively). In conclusion, both genetic and environmental factors shared by co-twins have an important influence on individual differences in educational attainment. The effect of genetic factors on educational attainment has decreased from the cohorts born before to those born after the 1950s.",

author = "Karri Silventoinen and Aline Jelenkovic and Reijo Sund and Antti Latvala and Chika Honda and Fujio Inui and Rie Tomizawa and Mikio Watanabe and Norio Sakai and Esther Rebato and Andreas Busjahn and Jessica Tyler and Hopper, {John L.} and Ordo{\~n}ana, {Juan R.} and S{\'a}nchez-Romera, {Juan F.} and Lucia Colodro-Conde and Lucas Calais-Ferreira and Oliveira, {Vinicius C.} and Ferreira, {Paulo H.} and Emanuela Medda and Lorenza Nistic{\`o} and Virgilia Toccaceli and Derom, {Catherine A.} and Vlietinck, {Robert F.} and Loos, {Ruth J.F.} and Siribaddana, {Sisira H.} and Matthew Hotopf and Athula Sumathipala and Fruhling Rijsdijk and Duncan, {Glen E.} and Dedra Buchwald and Per Tynelius and Finn Rasmussen and Qihua Tan and Dongfeng Zhang and Zengchang Pang and Magnusson, {Patrik K.E.} and Pedersen, {Nancy L.} and {Dahl Aslan}, {Anna K.} and Hwang, {Amie E.} and Mack, {Thomas M.} and Krueger, {Robert F.} and Matt McGue and Shandell Pahlen and Ingunn Brandt and Nilsen, {Thomas S.} and Harris, {Jennifer R.} and Martin, {Nicholas G.} and Medland, {Sarah E.} and Montgomery, {Grant W.} and Gonneke Willemsen and Meike Bartels and {van Beijsterveldt}, {Catharina E.M.} and Franz, {Carol E.} and Kremen, {William S.} and Lyons, {Michael J.} and Silberg, {Judy L.} and Maes, {Hermine H.} and Christian Kandler and Nelson, {Tracy L.} and Whitfield, {Keith E.} and Corley, {Robin P.} and Huibregtse, {Brooke M.} and Margaret Gatz and Butler, {David A.} and Tarnoki, {Adam D.} and Tarnoki, {David L.} and Park, {Hang A.} and Jooyeon Lee and Lee, {Soo Ji} and Joohon Sung and Yoshie Yokoyama and S{\o}rensen, {Thorkild I.A.} and Boomsma, {Dorret I.} and Jaakko Kaprio",

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Silventoinen, K, Jelenkovic, A, Sund, R, Latvala, A, Honda, C, Inui, F, Tomizawa, R, Watanabe, M, Sakai, N, Rebato, E, Busjahn, A, Tyler, J, Hopper, JL, Ordoñana, JR, Sánchez-Romera, JF, Colodro-Conde, L, Calais-Ferreira, L, Oliveira, VC, Ferreira, PH, Medda, E, Nisticò, L, Toccaceli, V, Derom, CA, Vlietinck, RF, Loos, RJF, Siribaddana, SH, Hotopf, M, Sumathipala, A, Rijsdijk, F, Duncan, GE, Buchwald, D, Tynelius, P, Rasmussen, F, Tan, Q, Zhang, D, Pang, Z, Magnusson, PKE, Pedersen, NL, Dahl Aslan, AK, Hwang, AE, Mack, TM, Krueger, RF, McGue, M, Pahlen, S, Brandt, I, Nilsen, TS, Harris, JR, Martin, NG, Medland, SE, Montgomery, GW, Willemsen, G, Bartels, M, van Beijsterveldt, CEM, Franz, CE, Kremen, WS, Lyons, MJ, Silberg, JL, Maes, HH, Kandler, C, Nelson, TL, Whitfield, KE, Corley, RP, Huibregtse, BM, Gatz, M, Butler, DA, Tarnoki, AD, Tarnoki, DL, Park, HA, Lee, J, Lee, SJ, Sung, J, Yokoyama, Y, Sørensen, TIA, Boomsma, DI & Kaprio, J 2020, 'Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment: an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts', Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, 12681, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6

TY - JOUR

T1 - Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment

T2 - an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts

AU - Silventoinen, Karri

AU - Jelenkovic, Aline

AU - Sund, Reijo

AU - Latvala, Antti

AU - Honda, Chika

AU - Inui, Fujio

AU - Tomizawa, Rie

AU - Watanabe, Mikio

AU - Sakai, Norio

AU - Rebato, Esther

AU - Busjahn, Andreas

AU - Tyler, Jessica

AU - Hopper, John L.

AU - Ordoñana, Juan R.

AU - Sánchez-Romera, Juan F.

AU - Colodro-Conde, Lucia

AU - Calais-Ferreira, Lucas

AU - Oliveira, Vinicius C.

AU - Ferreira, Paulo H.

AU - Medda, Emanuela

AU - Nisticò, Lorenza

AU - Toccaceli, Virgilia

AU - Derom, Catherine A.

AU - Vlietinck, Robert F.

AU - Loos, Ruth J.F.

AU - Siribaddana, Sisira H.

AU - Hotopf, Matthew

AU - Sumathipala, Athula

AU - Rijsdijk, Fruhling

AU - Duncan, Glen E.

AU - Buchwald, Dedra

AU - Tynelius, Per

AU - Rasmussen, Finn

AU - Tan, Qihua

AU - Zhang, Dongfeng

AU - Pang, Zengchang

AU - Magnusson, Patrik K.E.

AU - Pedersen, Nancy L.

AU - Dahl Aslan, Anna K.

AU - Hwang, Amie E.

AU - Mack, Thomas M.

AU - Krueger, Robert F.

AU - McGue, Matt

AU - Pahlen, Shandell

AU - Brandt, Ingunn

AU - Nilsen, Thomas S.

AU - Harris, Jennifer R.

AU - Martin, Nicholas G.

AU - Medland, Sarah E.

AU - Montgomery, Grant W.

AU - Willemsen, Gonneke

AU - Bartels, Meike

AU - van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E.M.

AU - Franz, Carol E.

AU - Kremen, William S.

AU - Lyons, Michael J.

AU - Silberg, Judy L.

AU - Maes, Hermine H.

AU - Kandler, Christian

AU - Nelson, Tracy L.

AU - Whitfield, Keith E.

AU - Corley, Robin P.

AU - Huibregtse, Brooke M.

AU - Gatz, Margaret

AU - Butler, David A.

AU - Tarnoki, Adam D.

AU - Tarnoki, David L.

AU - Park, Hang A.

AU - Lee, Jooyeon

AU - Lee, Soo Ji

AU - Sung, Joohon

AU - Yokoyama, Yoshie

AU - Sørensen, Thorkild I.A.

AU - Boomsma, Dorret I.

AU - Kaprio, Jaakko

PY - 2020/7/29

Y1 - 2020/7/29

N2 - We investigated the heritability of educational attainment and how it differed between birth cohorts and cultural–geographic regions. A classical twin design was applied to pooled data from 28 cohorts representing 16 countries and including 193,518 twins with information on educational attainment at 25 years of age or older. Genetic factors explained the major part of individual differences in educational attainment (heritability: a2 = 0.43; 0.41–0.44), but also environmental variation shared by co-twins was substantial (c2 = 0.31; 0.30–0.33). The proportions of educational variation explained by genetic and shared environmental factors did not differ between Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia. When restricted to twins 30 years or older to confirm finalized education, the heritability was higher in the older cohorts born in 1900–1949 (a2 = 0.44; 0.41–0.46) than in the later cohorts born in 1950–1989 (a2 = 0.38; 0.36–0.40), with a corresponding lower influence of common environmental factors (c2 = 0.31; 0.29–0.33 and c2 = 0.34; 0.32–0.36, respectively). In conclusion, both genetic and environmental factors shared by co-twins have an important influence on individual differences in educational attainment. The effect of genetic factors on educational attainment has decreased from the cohorts born before to those born after the 1950s.

AB - We investigated the heritability of educational attainment and how it differed between birth cohorts and cultural–geographic regions. A classical twin design was applied to pooled data from 28 cohorts representing 16 countries and including 193,518 twins with information on educational attainment at 25 years of age or older. Genetic factors explained the major part of individual differences in educational attainment (heritability: a2 = 0.43; 0.41–0.44), but also environmental variation shared by co-twins was substantial (c2 = 0.31; 0.30–0.33). The proportions of educational variation explained by genetic and shared environmental factors did not differ between Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia. When restricted to twins 30 years or older to confirm finalized education, the heritability was higher in the older cohorts born in 1900–1949 (a2 = 0.44; 0.41–0.46) than in the later cohorts born in 1950–1989 (a2 = 0.38; 0.36–0.40), with a corresponding lower influence of common environmental factors (c2 = 0.31; 0.29–0.33 and c2 = 0.34; 0.32–0.36, respectively). In conclusion, both genetic and environmental factors shared by co-twins have an important influence on individual differences in educational attainment. The effect of genetic factors on educational attainment has decreased from the cohorts born before to those born after the 1950s.

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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85088704762&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6

DO - 10.1038/s41598-020-69526-6

M3 - Article

C2 - 32728164

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 10

SP - 1

EP - 11

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

IS - 1

M1 - 12681

ER -

Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment: an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts

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