Genetic influence on intergenerational educational attainment

Using twin (6,105 twin pairs) and genomic (5,825 unrelated individuals) analyses, we tested for genetic influences on the parent-offspring correspondence in educational attainment. Genetics accounted for nearly half of the... [ view full abstract ]

Using twin (6,105 twin pairs) and genomic (5,825 unrelated individuals) analyses, we tested for genetic influences on the parent-offspring correspondence in educational attainment. Genetics accounted for nearly half of the variance in intergenerational educational attainment. A genome-wide polygenic score (GPS) for years of education from a recent genome-wide association study (Okbay et al., 2016) was also associated with intergenerational educational attainment: The highest and lowest GPS means were found for offspring in stably educated (M = 0.43; SD=0.97) and stably uneducated (M = -0.19; SD= 0.97) families, while the GPS scores fell in between for families that were upwardly mobile (parents not university educated, offspring taking A-levels) (M = 0.05; SD = 0.96) and downwardly mobile (parents university educated, offspring not taking A-levels) (M = 0.28; SD = 1.03). Genetic influences on intergenerational educational attainment can be viewed as an index of equality of educational opportunity.