IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgen00/1010247.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating indirect genetic effects of siblings using singletons

Author

Listed:
  • Laurence J Howe
  • David M Evans
  • Gibran Hemani
  • George Davey Smith
  • Neil M Davies

Abstract

Estimating effects of parental and sibling genotypes (indirect genetic effects) can provide insight into how the family environment influences phenotypic variation. There is growing molecular genetic evidence for effects of parental phenotypes on their offspring (e.g. parental educational attainment), but the extent to which siblings affect each other is currently unclear. Here we used data from samples of unrelated individuals, without (singletons) and with biological full-siblings (non-singletons), to investigate and estimate sibling effects. Indirect genetic effects of siblings increase (or decrease) the covariance between genetic variation and a phenotype. It follows that differences in genetic association estimates between singletons and non-singletons could indicate indirect genetic effects of siblings if there is no heterogeneity in other sources of genetic association between singletons and non-singletons. We used UK Biobank data to estimate polygenic score (PGS) associations for height, BMI and educational attainment in self-reported singletons (N = 50,143) and non-singletons (N = 328,549). The educational attainment PGS association estimate was 12% larger (95% C.I. 3%, 21%) in the non-singleton sample than in the singleton sample, but the height and BMI PGS associations were consistent. Birth order data suggested that the difference in educational attainment PGS associations was driven by individuals with older siblings rather than firstborns. The relationship between number of siblings and educational attainment PGS associations was non-linear; PGS associations were 24% smaller in individuals with 6 or more siblings compared to the rest of the sample (95% C.I. 11%, 38%). We estimate that a 1 SD increase in sibling educational attainment PGS corresponds to a 0.025 year increase in the index individual’s years in schooling (95% C.I. 0.013, 0.036). Our results suggest that older siblings may influence the educational attainment of younger siblings, adding to the growing evidence that effects of the environment on phenotypic variation partially reflect social effects of germline genetic variation in relatives.Author summary: Genetic data from families can be used to evaluate social effects of parents on their offspring. For example, non-transmitted parental genetic variants have been shown to associate with offspring educational attainment indicative of parental effects. Siblings may also influence one another but available data has limited our understanding of sibling effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurence J Howe & David M Evans & Gibran Hemani & George Davey Smith & Neil M Davies, 2022. "Evaluating indirect genetic effects of siblings using singletons," PLOS Genetics, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(7), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgen00:1010247
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010247
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1010247
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1010247&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010247?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cheti Nicoletti & Birgitta Rabe, 2019. "Sibling spillover effects in school achievement," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 482-501, June.
    2. Jessica Tyrrell & Jie Zheng & Robin Beaumont & Kathryn Hinton & Tom G. Richardson & Andrew R. Wood & George Davey Smith & Timothy M. Frayling & Kate Tilling, 2021. "Genetic predictors of participation in optional components of UK Biobank," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Dilnoza Muslimova & Hans van Kippersluis & Cornelius A. Rietveld & Stephanie von Hinke & S. Fleur W. Meddens, 2020. "Dynamic complementarity in skill production: Evidence from genetic endowments and birth order," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-082/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    4. repec:plo:pgen00:1009154 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:plo:pmed00:1001779 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. L. Duncan & H. Shen & B. Gelaye & J. Meijsen & K. Ressler & M. Feldman & R. Peterson & B. Domingue, 2019. "Analysis of polygenic risk score usage and performance in diverse human populations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pereira, Rita & Biroli, Pietro & von hinke, stephanie & Van Kippersluis, Hans & Galama, Titus & Rietveld, Niels & Thom, Kevin, 2022. "Gene-Environment Interplay in the Social Sciences," OSF Preprints d96z3, Center for Open Science.
    2. repec:osf:osfxxx:d96z3_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Costanza Biavaschi & Corrado Giulietti & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2015. "Sibling Influence on the Human Capital of the Left-Behind," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(4), pages 403-438.
    4. Jun Wang & Qihui Chen & Gang Chen & Yingxiang Li & Guoshu Kong & Chen Zhu, 2020. "What is creating the height premium? New evidence from a Mendelian randomization analysis in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Anna Adamecz & John Jerrim & Jean-Baptiste Pingault & Nikki Shure, 2025. "Peers, parents, and self-perceptions: the gender gap in mathematics self-assessment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-33, March.
    6. Crudu, Federico & Neri, Laura & Tiezzi, Silvia, 2021. "Family ties and child obesity in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    7. Maria Marchenko, 2019. "Endogenous Shocks in Social Networks: Exam Failures and Friends' Future Performance," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp292, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    8. Samuel Baker & Pietro Biroli & Hans van Kippersluis & Stephanie von Hinke, 2022. "Beyond Barker: Infant Mortality at Birth and Ischaemic Heart Disease in Older Age," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 22/765, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    9. von Hinke, Stephanie & Sørensen, Emil N., 2023. "The long-term effects of early-life pollution exposure: Evidence from the London smog," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    10. Wennberg, Karl & Norgren, Axel, 2021. "Models of Peer Effects in Education," Working Papers 21/3, Stockholm School of Economics, Center for Educational Leadership and Excellence.
    11. Carla Márquez-Luna & Steven Gazal & Po-Ru Loh & Samuel S. Kim & Nicholas Furlotte & Adam Auton & Alkes L. Price, 2021. "Incorporating functional priors improves polygenic prediction accuracy in UK Biobank and 23andMe data sets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Cheti Nicoletti & Kjell G. Salvanes & Emma Tominey, 2023. "Mothers Working during Preschool Years and Child Skills: Does Income Compensate?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(2), pages 389-429.
    13. Jacob, Arun, 2016. "Gender Bias in Educational Attainment in India : The Role of Dowry Payments," MPRA Paper 76338, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Peter, Noemi & Lundborg, Petter & Mikkelsen, Sara & Webbink, Dinand, 2018. "The effect of a sibling’s gender on earnings and family formation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 61-78.
    15. Ainhoa Aparicio-Fenoll & Veruska Oppedisano, 2016. "Should I stay or should I go? Sibling effects in household formation," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 1007-1027, December.
    16. H. Serhat Tetikol & Deniz Turgut & Kubra Narci & Gungor Budak & Ozem Kalay & Elif Arslan & Sinem Demirkaya-Budak & Alexey Dolgoborodov & Duygu Kabakci-Zorlu & Vladimir Semenyuk & Amit Jain & Brandi N., 2022. "Pan-African genome demonstrates how population-specific genome graphs improve high-throughput sequencing data analysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Avdeev, Stanislav & Ketel, Nadine & Oosterbeek, Hessel & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2024. "Spillovers in fields of study: Siblings, cousins, and neighbors," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    18. Ferreira, João R. & Sandholtz, Wayne Aaron, 2024. "Free Schooling Reverses Sibling Rivalry," IZA Discussion Papers 17228, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Trejo, Sam, 2020. "Exploring Genetic Influences on Birth Weight," SocArXiv 7j59q, Center for Open Science.
    20. Jacobs, Babs & van der Velden, Rolf, 2021. "Exploring the uncharted waters of educational mobility: The role of key skills," ROA Research Memorandum 006, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    21. Gerard J. van den Berg & Stephanie von Hinke & Nicolai Vitt, 2023. "Early life exposure to measles and later-life outcomes: Evidence from the introduction of a vaccine," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 23/776, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgen00:1010247. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosgenetics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.