Parental influences on offspring education: indirect genetic effects of non-cognitive skills

Demange, P. A.; Hottenga, J. J.; Abdellaoui, A.; Malanchini, M.; Domingue, B. W.; de Zeeuw, E. L.; Rimfeld, K.; Eley, T.; Boomsma, D. I.; van Bergen, E.; Breen, G.; Nivard, M. G.; Cheesman, R.

doi:10.1101/2020.09.15.296236

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.09.15.296236

Parental influences on offspring education: indirect genetic effects of non-cognitive skills

Demange, P. A.·Hottenga, J. J.·Abdellaoui, A.·Malanchini, M.·Domingue, B. W.·de Zeeuw, E. L.·Rimfeld, K.·Eley, T.·Boomsma, D. I.·van Bergen, E.·Breen, G.·Nivard, M. G.·Cheesman, R.

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Abstract

Understanding how parents cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is vital for educational, family and economic policy. We use genetics (GWAS-by-subtraction) to assess a latent, broad non-cognitive skills dimension. To index parental effects controlling for genetic transmission, we estimate indirect parental genetic effects of polygenic scores on childhood and adulthood educational outcomes, using siblings (N=47,459), adoptees (N=6,407), and parent-offspring trios (N=2,534) in three UK and Dutch cohorts. We find that parental cognitive and non-cognitive skills affect offspring education through their environment: on average across cohorts and designs, indirect genetic effects explain 36-40% of population polygenic score associations. However, indirect genetic effects are lower for achievement in the Dutch cohort, and for the adoption design. We identify causes of higher sibling- and trio-based estimates: prenatal indirect genetic effects, population stratification, and assortative mating. Our phenotype-agnostic, genetically sensitive approach has established overall environmental effects of parents skills, facilitating future mechanistic work.

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Demange, P. A., Hottenga, J. J., Abdellaoui, A., Malanchini, M., Domingue, B. W., de Zeeuw, E. L., Rimfeld, K., Eley, T., Boomsma, D. I., van Bergen, E., Breen, G., Nivard, M. G., Cheesman, R.. 2020-09-16. Parental influences on offspring education: indirect genetic effects of non-cognitive skills. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.15.296236

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