Estimating effects of parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x
• Publication Date: 2022-08-23T10:03:05Z
• Authors: Perline A. Demange; Jouke Jan Hottenga; Abdel Abdellaoui; Espen Moen Eilertsen; Margherita Malanc...; Benjamin W. Domingue; Emma Armstrong-Ca...; Eveline L. de Zeeuw; Kaili Rimfeld; Dorret I. Boomsma; Elsje van Bergen; Gerome Breen; Michel G. Nivard; Rosa Cheesman
• Keywords: Assortative mating; Cognitive skill; Affect

Understanding how parents' cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is essential for educational, family economic policy. We use genetics (GWAS-by-subtraction) to assess a latent, broad dimension. To index parental effects controlling genetic transmission, we estimate indirect of polygenic scores on childhood adulthood educational outcomes, using siblings (N = 47,459), adoptees 6407), parent-offspring trios 2534) in three UK Dutch cohorts. find that affect through their environment: average across cohorts designs, explain 36-40% population score associations. However, are lower achievement the cohort, adoption design. identify potential causes higher sibling- trio-based estimates: prenatal effects, stratification, assortative mating. Our phenotype-agnostic, genetically sensitive approach has established overall environmental skills, facilitating future mechanistic work.