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

Perline A. Demange; Jouke Jan Hottenga; Abdel Abdellaoui; Espen Moen  Eilertsen; Margherita Malanchini; Benjamin W Domingue; Emma Armstrong-Carter; Eveline L de Zeeuw; Kaili Rimfeld; Dorret I. Boomsma; Elsje van Bergen; Gerome Breen; Michel G. Nivard; Rosa Cheesman

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x

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

Perline A. Demange, Jouke Jan Hottenga, Abdel Abdellaoui, Espen Moen Eilertsen, Margherita Malanchini, Benjamin W Domingue, Emma Armstrong-Carter, Eveline L de Zeeuw, Kaili Rimfeld, Dorret I. Boomsma, Elsje van Bergen, Gerome Breen, Michel G. Nivard, Rosa Cheesman^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

VU Amsterdam

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Understanding how parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is essential 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 = 6407), and parent-offspring trios (N = 2534) 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 potential 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.

Original language	English
Article number	4801
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	13
Early online date	23 Aug 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 23 Aug 2022

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Estimating effects ofparents_DEMANGE_Publishedonline23August2022_GOLD VoR (CC BY)Final published version, 1.46 MBLicence: CC BY

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Demange, P. A., Hottenga, J. J., Abdellaoui, A., Eilertsen, E. M., Malanchini, M., Domingue, B. W., Armstrong-Carter, E., de Zeeuw, E. L., Rimfeld, K., Boomsma, D. I., van Bergen, E., Breen, G., Nivard, M. G., & Cheesman, R. (2022). Estimating effects of parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores. Nature Communications, 13, Article 4801. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x

@article{588f4634e4d5482c85efe7c06c4e07c7,

title = "Estimating effects of parents{\textquoteright} cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores",

abstract = "Understanding how parents{\textquoteright} cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is essential 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 = 6407), and parent-offspring trios (N = 2534) 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 potential 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{\textquoteright} skills, facilitating future mechanistic work.",

author = "Demange, {Perline A.} and Hottenga, {Jouke Jan} and Abdel Abdellaoui and Eilertsen, {Espen Moen} and Margherita Malanchini and Domingue, {Benjamin W} and Emma Armstrong-Carter and {de Zeeuw}, {Eveline L} and Kaili Rimfeld and Boomsma, {Dorret I.} and {van Bergen}, Elsje and Gerome Breen and Nivard, {Michel G.} and Rosa Cheesman",

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x",

language = "English",

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journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

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Demange, PA, Hottenga, JJ, Abdellaoui, A, Eilertsen, EM, Malanchini, M, Domingue, BW, Armstrong-Carter, E, de Zeeuw, EL, Rimfeld, K, Boomsma, DI, van Bergen, E, Breen, G, Nivard, MG & Cheesman, R 2022, 'Estimating effects of parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores', Nature Communications, vol. 13, 4801. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x

TY - JOUR

T1 - Estimating effects of parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores

AU - Demange, Perline A.

AU - Hottenga, Jouke Jan

AU - Abdellaoui, Abdel

AU - Eilertsen, Espen Moen

AU - Malanchini, Margherita

AU - Domingue, Benjamin W

AU - Armstrong-Carter, Emma

AU - de Zeeuw, Eveline L

AU - Rimfeld, Kaili

AU - Boomsma, Dorret I.

AU - van Bergen, Elsje

AU - Breen, Gerome

AU - Nivard, Michel G.

AU - Cheesman, Rosa

PY - 2022/8/23

Y1 - 2022/8/23

N2 - Understanding how parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is essential 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 = 6407), and parent-offspring trios (N = 2534) 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 potential 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.

AB - Understanding how parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is essential 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 = 6407), and parent-offspring trios (N = 2534) 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 potential 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.

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x

DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 13

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 4801

ER -

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

Abstract

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