A study uses a genetic measure associated with education to examine social mobility in individuals from three countries. A genetic measure called a polygenic score, derived from a genome-wide association study of education, can predict an individual's educational and economic success. Such predictions could indicate biological mechanisms or socially transmitted opportunities and advantages, given that children inherit both genes and social class from parents. Daniel Belsky and colleagues tested whether polygenic scores predicted social mobility in a study that included more than 20,000 individuals from Britain, New Zealand, and the United States who were followed from childhood into adulthood. The authors found that individuals with high polygenic scores achieved more upward social mobility in terms of education, occupation, and wealth, compared with their parents and siblings, regardless of the individuals' familial social class as children. Additionally, the study revealed that a mother's polygenic score predicted her child's success independently of the child's own polygenic score, suggesting that the family environment fostered by parents might influence children's life success. According to the authors, the findings indicate that an individual's genes and childhood family environment likely influence socioeconomic outcomes.
Article #18-01238: "Genetic analysis of social-class mobility in five longitudinal studies," by Daniel W. Belsky et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Daniel W. Belsky, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC; tel: 919-613-4534, 919-357-8200; e-mail: <dbelsky@duke.edu>
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