More than nature and nurture, indirect genetic effects on children’s academic achievement are consequences of dynastic social processes

Michel G. Nivard, Daniel W. Belsky, K. Paige Harden, Tina Baier, Ole A. Andreassen, Eivind Ystrøm, Elsje van Bergen, Torkild H. Lyngstad*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Families transmit genes and environments across generations. When parents’ genetics affect their children’s environments, these two modes of inheritance can produce an ‘indirect genetic effect’. Such indirect genetic effects may account for up to half of the estimated genetic variance in educational attainment. Here we tested if indirect genetic effects reflect within-nuclear-family transmission (‘genetic nurture’) or instead a multi-generational process of social stratification (‘dynastic effects’). We analysed indirect genetic effects on children’s academic achievement in their fifth to ninth years of schooling in N = 37,117 parent–offspring trios in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). We used pairs of genetically related families (parents were siblings, children were cousins; N = 10,913) to distinguish within-nuclear-family genetic-nurture effects from dynastic effects shared by cousins in different nuclear families. We found that indirect genetic effects on children’s academic achievement cannot be explained by processes that operate exclusively within the nuclear family.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)771-778
Number of pages8
JournalNature Human Behaviour
Volume8
Issue number4
Early online date15 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Funding

We thank the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) for generating high-quality genomic data. This research is part of the HARVEST collaboration, supported by the Research Council of Norway (#229624). We also thank the NORMENT Centre for providing genotype data, funded by the Research Council of Norway (#223273), South East Norway Health Authority and KG Jebsen Stiftelsen. We further thank the Center for Diabetes Research, the University of Bergen for providing genotype data and performing quality control and imputation of the data funded by the ERC AdG project SELECTionPREDISPOSED, Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen, Trond Mohn Foundation, the Research Council of Norway, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the University of Bergen and the Western Norway health authorities (Helse Vest) The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Ministry of Education and Research. We are grateful to all the participating families in Norway who take part in this on-going cohort study. M.G.N. is supported by ZonMW grants 849200011 and 531003014 from The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, a VENI grant awarded by NWO (VI.Veni.191\u2009G.030), and NIH grant R01MH120219. K.P.H. is supported by grant R01HD092548 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and by NICHD grant P2CHD042849 awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. D.W.B. was supported by US National Institute on Aging grants R01AG066887, R01AG073402, Russell Sage Foundation BioSS Grant 1810-08987, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. E.v.B. is supported by ZonMw grant 531003014 and NWO Gravitation grant 024.001.003. T.H.L. and T.B. are supported by Horizon2020 ERC Consolidator grant #818420 OPENFLUX. M.G.N., D.W.B., K.P.H. and E.v.B. are all past or present Jacobs Foundation Research Fellows. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. We thank the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) for generating high-quality genomic data. This research is part of the HARVEST collaboration, supported by the Research Council of Norway (#229624). We also thank the NORMENT Centre for providing genotype data, funded by the Research Council of Norway (#223273), South East Norway Health Authority and KG Jebsen Stiftelsen. We further thank the Center for Diabetes Research, the University of Bergen for providing genotype data and performing quality control and imputation of the data funded by the ERC AdG project SELECTionPREDISPOSED, Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen, Trond Mohn Foundation, the Research Council of Norway, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the University of Bergen and the Western Norway health authorities (Helse Vest) The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Ministry of Education and Research. We are grateful to all the participating families in Norway who take part in this on-going cohort study. M.G.N. is supported by ZonMW grants 849200011 and 531003014 from The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, a VENI grant awarded by NWO (VI.Veni.191 G.030), and NIH grant R01MH120219. K.P.H. is supported by grant R01HD092548 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and by NICHD grant P2CHD042849 awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. D.W.B. was supported by US National Institute on Aging grants R01AG066887, R01AG073402, Russell Sage Foundation BioSS Grant 1810-08987, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. E.v.B. is supported by ZonMw grant 531003014 and NWO Gravitation grant 024.001.003. T.H.L. and T.B. are supported by Horizon2020 ERC Consolidator grant #818420 OPENFLUX. M.G.N., D.W.B., K.P.H. and E.v.B. are all past or present Jacobs Foundation Research Fellows. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

FundersFunder number
University of Texas at Austin
Horizon2020 ERC
South East Norway Health Authority
Haridus- ja Teadusministeerium
Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen
Trond Mohn stiftelse
ULB Center for Diabetes Research
Helse- og Omsorgsdepartementet
KG Jebsen Stiftelsen
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Universitetet i Bergen
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
European Research Council
Novo Nordisk Fonden
ZonMw024.001.003, 531003014, 849200011
Norges IdrettshøgskoleR01HD092548, R01MH120219
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentP2CHD042849
National Institute on AgingR01AG066887, R01AG073402
Norges forskningsråd223273, 229624
Russell Sage Foundation BioSS1810-08987
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme818420
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk OnderzoekVI.Veni.191 G.030

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