College Graduation May Be Partly Determined by Your Genes

Two years ago scientists decided to delve into the question: Is intelligence, or academic performance, written in our genes? Scientists isolated clusters of genetic patterns that seemed to be associated with higher levels of education, by data mining the genomes for 100,000 individuals. Although they did not identify a gene for specifically education or intelligence, they did find that people who had completed more years of schooling were more likely to share certain genetic variations, compared to the individuals who had dropped out of school earlier. By studying pairs of siblings, Ben Domingue of Stanford University cleared away the confounding factors. For twins, small differences in their genetic makeup stand out because so much is similar. Researchers have also found that within families, an adolescent with a higher polygenic score than their sibling actually tended to go on and complete more schooling. A polygenic score is a measure of how many of the genetic variations associated with educational attainment a person has in his or her genome. Domingue explained “The sibling with a slightly higher polygenic score continued in school for only one third of a year longer, on average, than the sibling who had a lower score.” In explaining that, Domingue also including that there is evidence to suggest that genes are causing differences in educational attainment, although it is a very small amount. Socioeconomic factors remain much stronger. As an example, having a mother who graduated from college was associated with an additional 1.7 years of schooling. 

Within their research, scientists found that family environments may expand small genetic differences between siblings and that there is no relationship between a sibling’s birth order and his or her polygenic score.

Domingue will continue to research and explore how the genetic variations for educational attainment may develop into personality traits that lead children to become good students. He wants to figure out if students with high polygenic scores are more sociable and finally, wants to explore the interaction between genes and the environment to learn if there are things that schools or teachers can do to moderate genetic antipathies to education. 

This research will continue to go on for many years and it won’t be for many years after that, that scientists identify the genetic mutation for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for example. 

In some academic articles, the data is broken down to show how the types of races differ. To avoid misleading readers, Domingue left that out of the article and stated “The most contentious areas has to do with race,” but also included, “I have zero interest in trying to explain between race differences in education achievement, I don’t think there’s anything there.” 

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