TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic associations with parental investment from conception to wealth inheritance in six cohorts
AU - Wertz, Jasmin
AU - Moffitt, Terrie E.
AU - Arseneault, Louise
AU - Barnes, J. C.
AU - Boivin, Michel
AU - Corcoran, David L.
AU - Danese, Andrea
AU - Hancox, Robert J.
AU - Harrington, Hona Lee
AU - Houts, Renate M.
AU - Langevin, Stephanie
AU - Liu, Hexuan
AU - Poulton, Richie
AU - Sugden, Karen
AU - Tanksley, Peter T.
AU - Williams, Benjamin S.
AU - Caspi, Avshalom
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - Genetic inheritance is not the only way parents’ genes may affect children. It is also possible that parents’ genes are associated with investments into children’s development. We examined evidence for links between parental genetics and parental investments, from the prenatal period through to adulthood, using data from six population-based cohorts in the UK, US and New Zealand, together totalling 36,566 parents. Our findings revealed associations between parental genetics—summarized in a genome-wide polygenic score—and parental behaviour across development, from smoking in pregnancy, breastfeeding in infancy, parenting in childhood and adolescence, to leaving a wealth inheritance to adult children. Effect sizes tended to be small at any given time point, ranging from RR = 1.12 (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 1.09, 1.15) to RR = 0.76 (95%CI 0.72, 0.80) during the prenatal period and infancy; β = 0.07 (95%CI 0.04, 0.11) to β = 0.29 (95%CI 0.27, 0.32) in childhood and adolescence, and RR = 1.04 (95%CI 1.01, 1.06) to RR = 1.11 (95%CI 1.07, 1.15) in adulthood. There was evidence for accumulating effects across development, ranging from β = 0.15 (95%CI 0.11, 0.18) to β = 0.23 (95%CI 0.16, 0.29) depending on cohort. Our findings are consistent with the interpretation that parents pass on advantages to offspring not only via direct genetic transmission or purely environmental paths, but also via genetic associations with parental investment from conception to wealth inheritance.
AB - Genetic inheritance is not the only way parents’ genes may affect children. It is also possible that parents’ genes are associated with investments into children’s development. We examined evidence for links between parental genetics and parental investments, from the prenatal period through to adulthood, using data from six population-based cohorts in the UK, US and New Zealand, together totalling 36,566 parents. Our findings revealed associations between parental genetics—summarized in a genome-wide polygenic score—and parental behaviour across development, from smoking in pregnancy, breastfeeding in infancy, parenting in childhood and adolescence, to leaving a wealth inheritance to adult children. Effect sizes tended to be small at any given time point, ranging from RR = 1.12 (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 1.09, 1.15) to RR = 0.76 (95%CI 0.72, 0.80) during the prenatal period and infancy; β = 0.07 (95%CI 0.04, 0.11) to β = 0.29 (95%CI 0.27, 0.32) in childhood and adolescence, and RR = 1.04 (95%CI 1.01, 1.06) to RR = 1.11 (95%CI 1.07, 1.15) in adulthood. There was evidence for accumulating effects across development, ranging from β = 0.15 (95%CI 0.11, 0.18) to β = 0.23 (95%CI 0.16, 0.29) depending on cohort. Our findings are consistent with the interpretation that parents pass on advantages to offspring not only via direct genetic transmission or purely environmental paths, but also via genetic associations with parental investment from conception to wealth inheritance.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163571576&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41562-023-01618-5
DO - 10.1038/s41562-023-01618-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 37386103
AN - SCOPUS:85163571576
SN - 2397-3374
VL - 7
SP - 1388
EP - 1401
JO - Nature Human Behaviour
JF - Nature Human Behaviour
IS - 8
ER -