Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

Stumm, Sophie von; Smith‐Woolley, Emily; Ayorech, Ziada; McMillan, Andrew; Rimfeld, Kaili; Dale, Philip S.; Plomin, Robert

doi:10.1111/desc.12925

Cited by 98 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…For the example of reading ability, it has been found that the abilities of both of the parents explain 21% of the ability of children 58 . In comparison, polygenic scores (based on the educational-attainment GWAS) have been found to explain only 2–5% of reading ability in children 59 , and more recently 5–14% of “educational achievement” (including reading, writing, speaking, listening, and mathematics) in ages 7 to 16 years 60 . Certainly this proportion of variance explained from simple polygenic scores is not trivial, and the predictive ability of polygenic scores is anticipated to increase in the coming years.…”

Section: What Researchers Can Domentioning

confidence: 97%

Nurture might be nature: cautionary tales and proposed solutions

2021

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Across a wide range of studies, researchers often conclude that the home environment and children’s outcomes are causally linked. In contrast, behavioral genetic studies show that parents influence their children by providing them with both environment and genes, meaning the environment that parents provide should not be considered in the absence of genetic influences, because that can lead to erroneous conclusions on causation. This article seeks to provide behavioral scientists with a synopsis of numerous methods to estimate the direct effect of the environment, controlling for the potential of genetic confounding. Ideally, using genetically sensitive designs can fully disentangle this genetic confound, but these require specialized samples. In the near future, researchers will likely have access to measured DNA variants (summarized in a polygenic scores), which could serve as a partial genetic control, but that is currently not an option that is ideal or widely available. We also propose a work around for when genetically sensitive data are not readily available: the Familial Control Method. In this method, one measures the same trait in the parents as the child, and the parents’ trait is then used as a covariate (e.g., a genetic proxy). When these options are all not possible, we plead with our colleagues to clearly mention genetic confound as a limitation, and to be cautious with any environmental causal statements which could lead to unnecessary parent blaming.

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Section: What Researchers Can Domentioning

confidence: 97%

Nurture might be nature: cautionary tales and proposed solutions

2021

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“…We also found that genetic liability to higher educational attainment, over and above IQ, was associated with lower risk of ADHD. This could be explained in the context of educational attainment being associated with several socio-economic status and lifestyle indicators 41,42 .…”

Section: Bidirectional Causal Associations Between Genetic Liability mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is genetic liability to ADHD and ASD causally linked to educational attainment?

Dardani

Leppert

Riglin

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BackgroundIndividuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are at risk of poor educational outcomes. Parental educational attainment has also been associated with risk of ADHD/ASD in the offspring. Despite evidence that ADHD and ASD show genetic links to educational attainment, less is known on the causal nature of the associations and the possible role of IQ.MethodsWe assessed the total causal effects of genetic liability to ADHD/ASD on educational attainment using two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR). We assessed the possible contribution of IQ to the identified causal effects by estimating the “direct” effects of ADHD/ASD on educational attainment, independent of IQ, using Multivariable MR (MVMR). Reverse direction analyses were performed. The latest GWAS meta-analyses of ADHD, ASD, educational attainment and IQ were used. Causal effect estimates were generated using inverse variance weighted models (IVW). Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the robustness of the estimates and the presence of pleiotropy.ResultsGenetic liability to ADHD had a total (MRIVW:-3.3 months per doubling of liability to ADHD; 95%CI: -4.8 to -1.9; pval= 5*10−6) and direct negative causal effect on educational attainment (MVMRIVW:-1.6 months per doubling of liability to ADHD; 95%CI: -2.5 to -0.6; pval= 4*10−4). There was little evidence of a total causal effect of genetic liability to ASD on educational attainment (MRIVW: 4 days, per doubling of liability to ASD; 95%CI: -4.9 months to 5.6 months; pval= 0.9) but some evidence of a direct effect not via IQ (MVMRIVW:29 days per doubling the genetic liability to ASD; 95%CI: 2 to 48; pval= 0.03). Reverse direction analyses suggested that genetic liability to higher educational attainment was associated with lower risk of ADHD (MRIVWOR: 0.3 per standard deviation (SD) increase; 95%CI: 0.26 to 0.36; pval= 6*10−51), even after IQ was entered in the models (MVMRIVWOR: 0.33 per SD increase; 95%CI: 0.26 to 0.43; pval= 6*10−17). On the contrary, there was evidence consistent with a positive causal effect of genetic liability to higher educational attainment on risk of ASD (MRIVWOR: 1.51 per SD increase; 95%CI: 1.29 to 1.77; pval= 4*10−7), which was found to be largely explained by IQ (MVMRIVWOR per SD increase: 1.24; 95%CI: 0.96 to 1.60; pval= 0.09).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that despite the genetic and phenotypic overlap between ADHD and ASD, they present highly differentiated causal associations with educational attainment. This highlights the necessity for specialized educational interventions for children with ADHD and ASD. Further research is needed in order to decipher whether the identified causal effects reflect parentally transmitted effects, diagnostic masking, or selection bias.

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“…We focused on within-person grade variability across English, maths, and science, which are the core subjects in compulsory schooling in the UK. We aimed to 1 Previous studies have demonstrated the influence of genetic factors on scholastic success (Kovas et al, 2013;von Stumm et al, 2020), and here we used a twin design to estimate the heritability of within-person grade variability. We also applied a genome-wide polygenic score based on the largest genome-wide association study (GWAS) on educational attainment (Lee et al, 2018) to test the influence of inherited DNA differences on within-person grade variability.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Within-person variability in performance across school subjects

Wright¹,

S²

2020

Preprint

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Although thought to be substantial, within-person variability in school grades has not been systematically studied. Here we analysed data from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS; Nmax = 11,132) to describe within-person variability across grades in English, maths, and science from age 7 to 16 years. We found that within-person grade variability was largely unstable across subjects and ages. Within-person grade variability at age 16 was not associated with any of 15 variables that typically explain between-person differences in school performance (e.g. IQ, socioeconomic status, and personality traits). Also, within-person grade variability did not predict later educational outcomes at ages 18 and 21. Our findings suggest that within-person grade variability is an observable, but not meaningful psychological construct. We conclude that understanding the causes and consequences of within-person grade variability is of limited epistemological value.

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Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

Cited by 98 publications

References 31 publications

Nurture might be nature: cautionary tales and proposed solutions

Nurture might be nature: cautionary tales and proposed solutions

Is genetic liability to ADHD and ASD causally linked to educational attainment?

Within-person variability in performance across school subjects

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