Polygenic Influence on Educational Attainment: New Evidence From the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health
Open accessAbstract
Recent studies have begun to uncover the genetic architecture of educational attainment. We build on this work using genome-wide data from siblings in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We measure the genetic predisposition of siblings to educational attainment using polygenic scores. We then test how polygenic scores are related to social environments and educational outcomes. In Add Health, genetic predisposition to educational attainment is patterned across the social environment. Participants with higher polygenic scores were more likely to grow up in socially advantaged families. Even so, the previously published genetic associations appear to be causal. Among pairs of siblings, the sibling with the higher polygenic score typically went on to complete more years of schooling as compared to their lower-scored co-sibling. We found subtle differences between sibling fixed-effect estimates of the genetic effect versus those based on unrelated individuals.
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The scientific basis of the imbalance in PRS accuracy has been demonstrated theoretically, in simulations, and empirically across many traits and diseases.
“The scientific basis of this imbalance has been demonstrated theoretically, in simulations, and empirically across many traits and diseases11–22.”
From Clinical use of current polygenic risk scores may exacerbate health disparities (2019) · cites this paper as [20]
The Materials > Sample section (page unavailable) explains why differences in linkage disequilibrium can reduce the precision of polygenic scores across ancestry groups. The Results section reports a smaller association with educational attainment in African Americans than in European Americans. The paper thus supports a mechanism and one empirical example, but it does not demonstrate the imbalance through simulations or across many traits and diseases. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPRS are many-fold more accurate in European ancestry individuals than in others, and this disparity is the major ethical and scientific challenge surrounding clinical implementation.
“However, the major ethical and scientific challenge surrounding clinical implementation is that they are many-fold more accurate in European ancestry individuals than others.”
From Clinical use of current polygenic risk scores may exacerbate health disparities (2019) · cites this paper as [20]
The Materials > Sample section says that polygenic scores derived from European-ancestry samples may be less precise in African-American samples, and the Results report a smaller association with educational attainment among African Americans. The paper does not establish a many-fold accuracy difference across all other ancestries or characterize that disparity as the major ethical and scientific challenge to clinical implementation. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBecause the discovery sample consisted of individuals of European ancestry, the predictive power of the score is not expected to be as high in other ancestry groups.
“Because the discovery sample used to construct the score consisted of individuals of European ancestry, we would not expect the predictive power of our score to be as high in other ancestry groups7,26,27.”
From Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals (2018) · cites this paper as [7]
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- Authors
- Domingue, B. W., Belsky, D. W., Conley, D., Harris, K. M., & Boardman, J. D.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- New York University (US)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Venue
- AERA Open
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-07-01
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1-13
- ISSN
- 2332-8584 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5291340
- OpenAlex
- W2179083326
- Cited by
- 265
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 94.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- AERA Open (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DukeSpace (Duke University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD065563, P2CHD066613, P01HD031921, R01HD073342, R01HD060726)
- 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, genetic susceptibility, siblings, social environment, socioeconomic status, Add Health, genetic architecture, years of schooling
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