Author
Listed:
- Michel G. Nivard
(Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute)
- Daniel W. Belsky
(Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University)
- K. Paige Harden
(University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin)
- Tina Baier
(University of Oslo)
- Ole A. Andreassen
(University of Oslo
Oslo University Hospital)
- Eivind Ystrøm
(University of Oslo
Norwegian Institute of Public Health)
- Elsje Bergen
(Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
- Torkild H. Lyngstad
(University of Oslo)
Abstract
Families transmit genes and environments across generations. When parents’ genetics affect their children’s environments, these two modes of inheritance can produce an ‘indirect genetic effect’. Such indirect genetic effects may account for up to half of the estimated genetic variance in educational attainment. Here we tested if indirect genetic effects reflect within-nuclear-family transmission (‘genetic nurture’) or instead a multi-generational process of social stratification (‘dynastic effects’). We analysed indirect genetic effects on children’s academic achievement in their fifth to ninth years of schooling in N = 37,117 parent–offspring trios in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). We used pairs of genetically related families (parents were siblings, children were cousins; N = 10,913) to distinguish within-nuclear-family genetic-nurture effects from dynastic effects shared by cousins in different nuclear families. We found that indirect genetic effects on children’s academic achievement cannot be explained by processes that operate exclusively within the nuclear family.
Suggested Citation
Michel G. Nivard & Daniel W. Belsky & K. Paige Harden & Tina Baier & Ole A. Andreassen & Eivind Ystrøm & Elsje Bergen & Torkild H. Lyngstad, 2024.
"More than nature and nurture, indirect genetic effects on children’s academic achievement are consequences of dynastic social processes,"
Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 771-778, April.
Handle:
RePEc:nat:nathum:v:8:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01796-2
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01796-2
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