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Cited by 50Personality Traits and PsychologyGenetic Associations and EpidemiologyCognitive Abilities and Testing

Educational Attainment and Personality Are Genetically Intertwined

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Mõttus, René, Realo, Anu, Vainik, Uku, Allik, Jüri, Esko, Tõnu·2017·Psychological Science
DOI 10.1177/0956797617719083

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Abstract

Heritable variance in psychological traits may reflect genetic and biological processes that are not necessarily specific to these particular traits but pertain to a broader range of phenotypes. We tested the possibility that the personality domains of the five-factor model and their 30 facets, as rated by people themselves and their knowledgeable informants, reflect polygenic influences that have been previously associated with educational attainment. In a sample of more than 3,000 adult Estonians, education polygenic scores (EPSs), which are interpretable as estimates of molecular-genetic propensity for education, were correlated with various personality traits, particularly from the neuroticism and openness domains. The correlations of personality traits with phenotypic educational attainment closely mirrored their correlations with EPS. Moreover, EPS predicted an aggregate personality trait tailored to capture the maximum amount of variance in educational attainment almost as strongly as it predicted the attainment itself. We discuss possible interpretations and implications of these findings.

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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 [43]

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Cited by

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Authors
Mõttus, R., Realo, A., Vainik, U., Allik, J., & Esko, T.
Affiliations
  • University of Tartu (EE)
  • University of Warwick (GB)
  • McGill University (CA)
  • Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu
  • Broad Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Mõttus, René
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2017-09-14
Volume
28
Issue
11
Pages
1631-1639
ISSN
  • 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9280
DOI
10.1177/0956797617719083
OpenAlex
W2950233054
Cited by
50
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 5
FWCI
8.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • 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, personality, Big Five personality traits, polygenic risk score, heritability, neuroticism, openness to experience, informant ratings
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personality, Multifactorial Inheritance, Genetic Pleiotropy

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