OSC Scientific Seminar 2021-2022

Friday 15th October 2021, 11 am / 12 pm (register link)

Genetic Influences on Educational Attainment across 20th Century Birth Cohorts:
the Role of Parental Separation and Death in the United States

Tina Baier

University of Oslo

Whether environmental conditions provided by parents affect children’s chances to reach their genetic potential for education remains an open question. Previous research mainly considers parents’ socio-economic standing and overlooks a key dimension of social stratification: childhood family structure.
We address this gap by asking three research questions:

- does parental separation lower genetic influences on education,
- are there birth cohort differences, and
- are genetic influences among those who lost a parent more similar to those whose parents separated or those who remained coupled?

This study draws on the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to estimate the association between education polygenic scores and adults’ educational attainment by childhood family structure across the 20th Century.

We find that genetic effects on education are smaller for adults whose parents separated than adults whose parents remained married. Moreover, the magnitude of genetic influences remained rather constant across time for adults from two-parent households but decreased for adults whose parents separated.
Additionally, the impact of genes for adults who lost a parent is similar to those who grew up in two-parent households. This suggests that family instability rather than parental absence suppresses genetic influences on education among those whose parents separated.

Sorry, but due to pandemic crisis, this event is only open to internal audience.