Social adversity reduces polygenic score expressivity for general cognitive ability, but not height
Abstract
It has been hypothesized that even 'perfect' polygenic scores (PGSs) composed of only causal variants may not be fully portable between different social groups owing to gene-by-environment interactions modifying the expression of relevant variants. The impacts of such interactions involving two forms of social adversity (low socioeconomic status [SES] and discrimination) are examined in relation to the expressivity of a PGS for educational attainment composed of putatively causal variants in a large, representatively sampled and genotyped cohort of US children. A relatively small-magnitude Scarr-Rowe effect is present (SES × PGSEDU predicting General Cognitive Ability [GCA]; sR = .02, 95% CI [.00, .04]), as is a distinct discrimination × PGSEDU interaction predicting GCA (sR = -.02, 95% CI [-.05, 00]). Both are independent of the confounding main effects of 10 ancestral principal components, PGSEDU, SES, discrimination and interactions among these factors. No sex differences were found. These interactions were examined in relation to phenotypic and genotypic data on height, a prospectively more socially neutral trait. They were absent in both cases. The discrimination × PGSEDU interaction is a co-moderator of the differences posited in modern versions of Spearman's hypothesis (along with shared environmentality), lending support to certain environmental explanations of those differences. Behavior-genetic analysis of self-reported discrimination indicates that it is nonsignifi…
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In Peñaherrera-Aguirre et al. (2022), the vector of gene-by-environment interaction effects clustered positively and significantly with a group-differences vector, g loadings, and a shared environmentality vector.
“In Peñaherrera-Aguirre et al. (2022) it was found specifically that the vector of these clustered positively and significantly with a group-differences vector, g loadings, and a shared environmentality vector.”
From A Meta-Analysis of Spearman’s Hypothesis in the United States (2026) · cites this paper as Peñaherrera-Aguirre et al. (2022)
Cites
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Analysis of polygenic risk score usage and performance in diverse human populations
Duncan, L., Shen, H., Gelaye, B., Meijsen, J., Ressler, K., Feldman, M., Peterson, R., & Domingue, B. (2019) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11112-0 · Cited by 1,038 · see citing works
Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence
Tucker-Drob, E. M., & Bates, T. C. (2016) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797615612727 · Cited by 359 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…than crudely proxied via the use of SIRE, as in Guo & Stearns, 2002) uniquely impacts, through adverse gene-by-environment interactions, GCA (contrast this with the extensive body of research into the adverse effects of low SES on the additive heritability of GCA; e.g., Tucker-Drob & Bates, 2015).”
BackgroundOn the prevalence of racial discrimination in the United States
Lee, R. T., Perez, A. D., Boykin, C. M., & Mendoza-Denton, R. (2019) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0210698 · Cited by 318 · see citing works
Genetic analysis of social-class mobility in five longitudinal studies
Belsky, D. W., Domingue, B. W., Wedow, R., Arseneault, L., Boardman, J. D., Caspi, A., Conley, D., Fletcher, J. M., Freese, J., Herd, P., et al. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1801238115 · Cited by 315 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…comparisons, being generally less predictive of relevant trait variance among populations that are ancestrally more distant from the populations in which the PGSs were originally estimated (e.g., Belsky et al., 2018; Duncan et al., 2019; Guo et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2018; Weissbrod et al., 2021).”
BackgroundThompson, W. K., Barch, D. M., Bjork, J. M., Gonzalez, R., Nagel, B. J., Nixon, S. J., & Luciana, M. (2019) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2018.12.004 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Spearman’s Hypothesis Tested on Black Adults: A Meta-Analysis
Te Nijenhuis, J., & Van den Hoek, M. (2016) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence4020006 · Cited by 18 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Consistent with extant meta-analytic work on the relevant SIRE group comparisons (te Nijenhuis & van den Hoek, 2016; te Nijenhuis et al., 2019), the weighted (accounting for the dissimilar sample sizes) vector of the mean differences among the three SIRE groups was positively and significantly…”
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A Meta-Analysis of Spearman’s Hypothesis in the United States
Woodley of Menie, M., Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., & Sarraf, M. (2026) · Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities · doi:10.65550/001c.171909
Self-citation
- Authors
- Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., Woodley, M. A., Sarraf, M. A., & Beaver, K. M.
- Affiliations
- Florida State University (US)
- ORCID
- Beaver, Kevin M.
- Venue
- Twin Research and Human Genetics
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2022-02
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 10-23
- ISSN
- 1832-4274 (ISSN-L)
- 1839-2628
- OpenAlex
- W4223925534
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Twin Research and Human Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Keywords
- polygenic risk score, gene-environment interaction, social adversity, socioeconomic status, discrimination, educational attainment, general intelligence, height, Spearman's hypothesis, children
- MeSH terms
- Academic Success, Child, Cognition, Educational Status, Humans, Income, Social Class, Multifactorial Inheritance
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