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Benning JW, Carlson J, Smith OS, Shaw RG, Harpak A. Confounding Fuels Misinterpretation in Human Genetics. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.11.01.565061. [PMID: 37961599 PMCID: PMC10635045 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.01.565061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
The scientific literature has seen a resurgence of interest in genetic influences on human behavior and socioeconomic outcomes. Such studies face the central difficulty of distinguishing possible causal influences, in particular genetic and non-genetic ones. When confounding between possible influences is not rigorously addressed, it invites over- and misinterpretation of data. We illustrate the breadth of this problem through a discussion of the literature and a reanalysis of two examples. Clark (2023) suggested that patterns of similarity in social status between relatives indicate that social status is largely determined by one's DNA. We show that the paper's conclusions are based on the conflation of genetic and non-genetic transmission, such as wealth, within families. Song & Zhang (2024) posited that genetic variants underlying bisexual behavior are maintained in the population because they also affect risk-taking behavior, thereby conferring an evolutionary fitness advantage through increased sexual promiscuity. In this case, too, we show that possible explanations cannot be distinguished, but only one is chosen and presented as a conclusion. We discuss how issues of confounding apply more broadly to studies that claim to establish genetic underpinnings to human behavior and societal outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- John W. Benning
- Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - Jedidiah Carlson
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Population Health, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, USA
| | - Olivia S. Smith
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Population Health, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Ruth G. Shaw
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
| | - Arbel Harpak
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Population Health, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
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Nivard MG, Belsky DW, Harden KP, Baier T, Andreassen OA, Ystrøm E, van Bergen E, Lyngstad TH. More than nature and nurture, indirect genetic effects on children's academic achievement are consequences of dynastic social processes. Nat Hum Behav 2024:10.1038/s41562-023-01796-2. [PMID: 38225408 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01796-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
Families transmit genes and environments across generations. When parents' genetics affect their children's environments, these two modes of inheritance can produce an 'indirect genetic effect'. Such indirect genetic effects may account for up to half of the estimated genetic variance in educational attainment. Here we tested if indirect genetic effects reflect within-nuclear-family transmission ('genetic nurture') or instead a multi-generational process of social stratification ('dynastic effects'). We analysed indirect genetic effects on children's academic achievement in their fifth to ninth years of schooling in N = 37,117 parent-offspring trios in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). We used pairs of genetically related families (parents were siblings, children were cousins; N = 10,913) to distinguish within-nuclear-family genetic-nurture effects from dynastic effects shared by cousins in different nuclear families. We found that indirect genetic effects on children's academic achievement cannot be explained by processes that operate exclusively within the nuclear family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel G Nivard
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Daniel W Belsky
- Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
- Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - K Paige Harden
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Tina Baier
- Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ole A Andreassen
- NORMENT Centre, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Eivind Ystrøm
- PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Elsje van Bergen
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Research Institute LEARN!, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Torkild H Lyngstad
- Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
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