Intergenerational transmission of educational attainment in adoptive families in the Netherlands

Scheeren, Lotte; Das, Marjolijn; Liefbroer, Aart C.

doi:10.1016/j.rssm.2016.12.002

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The genetic nurturing effect on offspring educational attainment has been replicated in several samples 15 , 75 , 78 , 84 – 86 , 88 , 89 , and a few studies reported that the observed effect was partly explained by family socioeconomic status 14 , 15 , 89 . This finding is compatible with an adoption study which found that adoptive parents with higher income had offspring with increased educational attainment 90 . Other studies reported additional mediating effects of parental IQ 88 , maternal health during pregnancy 89 and parenting behaviours 78 .…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes: a systematic review of genetically informative literature

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Various parental characteristics, including psychiatric disorders and parenting behaviours, are associated with offspring mental health and related outcomes in observational studies. The application of genetically informative designs is crucial to disentangle the role of genetic and environmental factors (as well as gene–environment correlation) underlying these observations, as parents provide not only the rearing environment but also transmit 50% of their genes to their offspring. This article first provides an overview of behavioural genetics, matched-pair, and molecular genetics designs that can be applied to investigate parent–offspring associations, whilst modelling or accounting for genetic effects. We then present a systematic literature review of genetically informative studies investigating associations between parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes, published since 2014. The reviewed studies provide reliable evidence of genetic transmission of depression, criminal behaviour, educational attainment, and substance use. These results highlight that studies that do not use genetically informative designs are likely to misinterpret the mechanisms underlying these parent–offspring associations. After accounting for genetic effects, several parental characteristics, including parental psychiatric traits and parenting behaviours, were associated with offspring internalising problems, externalising problems, educational attainment, substance use, and personality through environmental pathways. Overall, genetically informative designs to study intergenerational transmission prove valuable for the understanding of individual differences in offspring mental health and related outcomes, and mechanisms of transmission within families.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes: a systematic review of genetically informative literature

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is consistent with much of the adoption research to date (e.g. van Vorria et al, 2015;Scheeren et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…This is consistent with much of the adoption research to date (e.g. van IJzendoorn, Juffer and Poelhuis, 2005;Scheeren, Das and Liefbroer, 2017;Vorria, Ntouma and Rutter, 2015).…”

Section: European Studiessupporting

confidence: 88%

A systematic review of the school performance and behavioural and emotional adjustments of children adopted from care

Brown

Waters

Shelton

2017

Adoption & Fostering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Education performance for children adopted from care is worthy of serious, comprehensive and robust investigation. Whilst there is a legal duty on Local Authorities in England and Wales to collate and monitor Looked After Children's (LAC) academic achievement and attainment, adopted children's educational progress is not specifically scrutinised. This systematic review addresses a gap in knowledge regarding the academic attainment and behavioural development of school-age children who have been adopted from care. A total of 15 published articles were selected for review, based on a stringent set of inclusion criteria. With one exception, adoption was associated with lower academic attainment and elevated levels of behavioural problems across childhood, adolescence and emerging adulthood compared with non-adopted comparison groups. Collectively, the findings suggest that the school performance of adopted children should be routinely monitored. The findings also point to a need to recognise the potential challenges faced by children adopted from care by working with families, schools, practitioners and researchers to identify the means through which children can achieve the best possible outcomes.

show abstract

“…In addition, SES was indexed by household income. Educational level, which is another common SES indicator, might have yielded different results (for different effects of income and educational level, see, e.g., Scheeren, Das, & Liefbroer, 2017;White, 1982).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of educational achievement among groups of immigrant children in Denmark emerge already in preschool second-language and preliteracy skills

Højen

Bleses

Jensen

et al. 2019

Applied Psycholinguistics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Immigrant children in Denmark differ greatly in educational outcomes. This study examined whether systematic differences in majority language (L2) and preliteracy skills are apparent already at ages 2–6 in immigrant children in Denmark across regional immigration background. Danish language and preliteracy skills in 1,211 immigrant children in four regional groups (based on maternal origin) and 11,259 native Danish nonimmigrant children, all enrolled in Danish childcare centers, were assessed using an age- and gender-normed language assessment instrument. Hierarchical linear models showed that all four immigrant groups scored significantly lower than the native Danish group; the negative coefficients diminished but remained significant when socioeconomic background and having a native Danish father were controlled for. In addition, even with these controls, significant differences existed between some of the immigrant groups, suggesting that factors relating to regional immigrant background were important sources of differences in L2 development. A greater immigrant disadvantage for language than preliteracy skills was found; two immigrant groups did not differ significantly from the nonimmigrant Danish group for preliteracy skills. The results suggest that measures to reduce inequalities in long-term educational achievement between immigrant groups should be taken already before school with a particular focus on L2 language skills.

show abstract

Intergenerational transmission of educational attainment in adoptive families in the Netherlands

Cited by 17 publications

References 33 publications

Parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes: a systematic review of genetically informative literature

Parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes: a systematic review of genetically informative literature

A systematic review of the school performance and behavioural and emotional adjustments of children adopted from care

Patterns of educational achievement among groups of immigrant children in Denmark emerge already in preschool second-language and preliteracy skills

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About