Interaction of family SES with children's genetic propensity for cognitive and noncognitive skills: No evidence of the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis for educational outcomes.

Autor: Ghirardi G; Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy.; Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy., Gil-Hernández CJ; European Commission, Centre for Advanced Studies, Joint Research Centre, Sevilla, Spain.; Department of Statistics, Computer Science, Applications, University of Florence, Florence, Italy., Bernardi F; Department of Sociology II, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain., van Bergen E; Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit (VU), Amsterdam, the Netherlands., Demange P; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Research in social stratification and mobility [Res Soc Stratif Mobil] 2024 Aug; Vol. 92, pp. 100960.
DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2024.100960
Abstrakt: This study examines the role of genes and environments in predicting educational outcomes. We test the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis, suggesting that enriched environments enable genetic potential to unfold, and the compensatory advantage hypothesis, proposing that low genetic endowments have less impact on education for children from high socioeconomic status (SES) families. We use a pre-registered design with Netherlands Twin Register data (426 ≤  N individuals ≤ 3875). We build polygenic indexes (PGIs) for cognitive and noncognitive skills to predict seven educational outcomes from childhood to adulthood across three designs (between-family, within-family, and trio) accounting for different confounding sources, totalling 42 analyses. Cognitive PGIs, noncognitive PGIs, and parental education positively predict educational outcomes. Providing partial support for the compensatory hypothesis, 39/42 PGI × SES interactions are negative, with 7 reaching statistical significance under Romano-Wolf and 3 under the more conservative Bonferroni multiple testing corrections (p-value < 0.007). In contrast, the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis lacks empirical support, with just 2 non-significant and 1 significant (not surviving Romano-Wolf) positive interactions. Overall, we emphasise the need for future replication studies in larger samples. Our findings demonstrate the value of merging social-stratification and behavioural-genetic theories to better understand the intricate interplay between genetic factors and social contexts.
Competing Interests: None.
(© 2024 The Authors.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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