Author:
Silventoinen Karri,Jelenkovic Aline,Sund Reijo,Latvala Antti,Honda Chika,Inui Fujio,Tomizawa Rie,Watanabe Mikio,Sakai Norio,Rebato Esther,Busjahn Andreas,Tyler Jessica,Hopper John L.,Ordoñana Juan R.,Sánchez-Romera Juan F.,Colodro-Conde Lucia,Calais-Ferreira Lucas,Oliveira Vinicius C.,Ferreira Paulo H.,Medda Emanuela,Nisticò Lorenza,Toccaceli Virgilia,Derom Catherine A.,Vlietinck Robert F.,Loos Ruth J. F.,Siribaddana Sisira H.,Hotopf Matthew,Sumathipala Athula,Rijsdijk Fruhling,Duncan Glen E.,Buchwald Dedra,Tynelius Per,Rasmussen Finn,Tan Qihua,Zhang Dongfeng,Pang Zengchang,Magnusson Patrik K. E.,Pedersen Nancy L.,Dahl Aslan Anna K.,Hwang Amie E.,Mack Thomas M.,Krueger Robert F.,McGue Matt,Pahlen Shandell,Brandt Ingunn,Nilsen Thomas S.,Harris Jennifer R.,Martin Nicholas G.,Medland Sarah E.,Montgomery Grant W.,Willemsen Gonneke,Bartels Meike,van Beijsterveldt Catharina E. M.,Franz Carol E.,Kremen William S.,Lyons Michael J.,Silberg Judy L.,Maes Hermine H.,Kandler Christian,Nelson Tracy L.,Whitfield Keith E.,Corley Robin P.,Huibregtse Brooke M.,Gatz Margaret,Butler David A.,Tarnoki Adam D.,Tarnoki David L.,Park Hang A.,Lee Jooyeon,Lee Soo Ji,Sung Joohon,Yokoyama Yoshie,Sørensen Thorkild I. A.,Boomsma Dorret I.,Kaprio Jaakko
Abstract
AbstractWe investigated the heritability of educational attainment and how it differed between birth cohorts and cultural–geographic regions. A classical twin design was applied to pooled data from 28 cohorts representing 16 countries and including 193,518 twins with information on educational attainment at 25 years of age or older. Genetic factors explained the major part of individual differences in educational attainment (heritability: a2 = 0.43; 0.41–0.44), but also environmental variation shared by co-twins was substantial (c2 = 0.31; 0.30–0.33). The proportions of educational variation explained by genetic and shared environmental factors did not differ between Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia. When restricted to twins 30 years or older to confirm finalized education, the heritability was higher in the older cohorts born in 1900–1949 (a2 = 0.44; 0.41–0.46) than in the later cohorts born in 1950–1989 (a2 = 0.38; 0.36–0.40), with a corresponding lower influence of common environmental factors (c2 = 0.31; 0.29–0.33 and c2 = 0.34; 0.32–0.36, respectively). In conclusion, both genetic and environmental factors shared by co-twins have an important influence on individual differences in educational attainment. The effect of genetic factors on educational attainment has decreased from the cohorts born before to those born after the 1950s.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC