The Genetics of Success: How Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated With Educational Attainment Relate to Life-Course Development
Open accessAbstract
A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) of more than 100,000 individuals identified molecular-genetic predictors of educational attainment. We undertook in-depth life-course investigation of the polygenic score derived from this GWAS using the four-decade Dunedin Study ( N = 918). There were five main findings. First, polygenic scores predicted adult economic outcomes even after accounting for educational attainments. Second, genes and environments were correlated: Children with higher polygenic scores were born into better-off homes. Third, children’s polygenic scores predicted their adult outcomes even when analyses accounted for their social-class origins; social-mobility analysis showed that children with higher polygenic scores were more upwardly mobile than children with lower scores. Fourth, polygenic scores predicted behavior across the life course, from early acquisition of speech and reading skills through geographic mobility and mate choice and on to financial planning for retirement. Fifth, polygenic-score associations were mediated by psychological characteristics, including intelligence, self-control, and interpersonal skill. Effect sizes were small. Factors connecting DNA sequence with life outcomes may provide targets for interventions to promote population-wide positive development.
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The unexplained remainder of the mate-pair PGI correlation is due to assortment on phenotypes correlated with the EA PGI other than EA, cognitive performance, and vocabulary-possibly including personality traits-and sources of social homogamy other than genetic ancestry captured by the top 40 PCs-possibly including geographic location at courtship age, socioeconomic status, and social class.
“This remainder is due to assortment on phenotypes correlated with the EA PGI other than EA, cognitive performance, and vocabulary—possibly including various personality traits42-44—and sources of social homogamy other than genetic ancestry captured by the top 40 PCs—possibly including geographic location at courtship age45,46, socioeconomic status, and social class47.”
From Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals (2022) · cites this paper as [42]
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- Authors
- Belsky, D. W., Moffitt, T. E., Corcoran, D. L., Domingue, B., Harrington, H., Hogan, S., Houts, R., Ramrakha, S., Sugden, K., Williams, B. S., Poulton, R., & Caspi, A.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- University of Otago (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Belsky, Daniel W.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-06-01
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 957-972
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC4946990
- OpenAlex
- W2794827279
- Cited by
- 260
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 6
- FWCI
- 84.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DukeSpace (Duke University) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (AG032282)
- Jacobs Foundation (AG032282, P30AG028716)
- Medical Research Council (MR/K00381X, MR/K00381X/1, AG032282)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/M010309/1)
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG048895, P30AG034424, P30AG028716, R01AG032282, R01AG049789)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (AG032282)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD065563, AG032282, R21HD078031)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- educational attainment, polygenic risk score, Dunedin Study, social mobility, economic outcomes, gene-environment correlation, life course development, intelligence, self-control, social skills, mate choice, retirement planning, spatial mobility
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Human Development, Intelligence, Longitudinal Studies, Male, New Zealand, Social Class, Multifactorial Inheritance, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Genome-Wide Association Study
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