scholarly journals Polygenic Scores for Smoking and Educational Attainment have Independent Influences on Academic Success and Adjustment in Adolescence and Educational Attainment in Adulthood

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Hicks ◽  
D. Angus Clark ◽  
Joseph D. Deak ◽  
Jonathan Schaefer ◽  
Mengzhen Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Academic Adjustment ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Behavioral Disinhibition ◽  
Discipline Problems ◽  
Academic Variables ◽  
Polygenic Scores

Educational success is associated with greater quality of life and depends, in part, on heritable cognitive and non-cognitive traits. We used polygenic scores (PGS) for smoking—a measure of genetic influences on behavioral disinhibition—and educational attainment to examine different genetic influences on facets of academic adjustment in adolescence and educational attainment in adulthood. PGSs were calculated for participants of the Minnesota Twin Family Study (N = 3225) and included as predictors of grades, academic motivation, and discipline problems at ages 11, 14, and 17 years-old and educational attainment at age 29. Smoking and educational attainment PGSs had significant incremental associations with each academic variable. About half of the adjusted effects of the smoking and educational PGSs on educational attainment at age 29 were mediated by the academic variables in adolescence. Distinct genetic influences related to behavioral disinhibition and educational attainment contribute to academic adjustment in adolescence and educational attainment in adulthood.

scholarly journals Polygenic scores for smoking and educational attainment have independent influences on academic success and adjustment in adolescence and educational attainment in adulthood

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255348
Author(s):  
Brian M. Hicks ◽  
D. Angus Clark ◽  
Joseph D. Deak ◽  
Jonathan D. Schaefer ◽  
Mengzhen Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Academic Adjustment ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Educational Success ◽  
Discipline Problems ◽  
Academic Variables ◽  
Polygenic Scores

Educational success is associated with greater quality of life and depends, in part, on heritable cognitive and non-cognitive traits. We used polygenic scores (PGS) for smoking and educational attainment to examine different genetic influences on facets of academic adjustment in adolescence and educational attainment in adulthood. PGSs were calculated for participants of the Minnesota Twin Family Study (N = 3225) and included as predictors of grades, academic motivation, and discipline problems at ages 11, 14, and 17 years-old, cigarettes per day from ages 14 to 24 years old, and educational attainment in adulthood (mean age 29.4 years). Smoking and educational attainment PGSs had significant incremental associations with each academic variable and cigarettes per day. About half of the adjusted effects of the smoking and education PGSs on educational attainment in adulthood were mediated by the academic variables in adolescence. Cigarettes per day from ages 14 to 24 years old did not account for the effect of the smoking PGS on educational attainment, suggesting the smoking PGS indexes genetic influences related to general behavioral disinhibition. In sum, distinct genetic influences measured by the smoking and educational attainment PGSs contribute to academic adjustment in adolescence and educational attainment in adulthood.

Major Discrimination Experiences, Education, and Genes

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 753-763
Author(s):  
Aniruddha Das
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Health And Retirement Study ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Retirement Study

Objectives: Rather than acting as a buffer, educational attainment has a known positive linkage with major experiences of lifetime discrimination. Recently established genetic roots of education, then, may also influence such reports. The current study examined these patterns. Methods: Data were from the 2010 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Polygenic scores indexed one’s genetic propensity for more education. Mediation analysis was through counterfactual methods. Results: Among Whites as well as Blacks, genetic antecedents of education also elevated discrimination reports. Part of this influence was channeled through education. At least among Whites, direct effects were also found. Discussion: Major discrimination experiences seem partly rooted in genes. Mechanisms are tentatively suggested. Direct genetic influences, in particular, indicate potential confounding of previously estimated linkages between discrimination and health or life course factors. Given the range of these prior results, and their implications for healthy aging, investigation of these possibilities is needed.

scholarly journals Comparison of Adopted and Nonadopted Individuals Reveals Gene–Environment Interplay for Education in the UK Biobank

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 582-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Cheesman ◽  
Avina Hunjan ◽  
Jonathan R. I. Coleman ◽  
Yasmin Ahmadzadeh ◽  
Robert Plomin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Home Environment ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Adoptive Parents ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Gene Environment ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Uk

Polygenic scores now explain approximately 10% of the variation in educational attainment. However, they capture not only genetic propensity but also information about the family environment. This is because of passive gene–environment correlation, whereby the correlation between offspring and parent genotypes results in an association between offspring genotypes and the rearing environment. We measured passive gene–environment correlation using information on 6,311 adoptees in the UK Biobank. Adoptees’ genotypes were less correlated with their rearing environments because they did not share genes with their adoptive parents. We found that polygenic scores were twice as predictive of years of education in nonadopted individuals compared with adoptees ( R2s = .074 vs. .037, p = 8.23 × 10−24). Individuals in the lowest decile of polygenic scores for education attained significantly more education if they were adopted, possibly because of educationally supportive adoptive environments. Overall, these results suggest that genetic influences on education are mediated via the home environment.

Arts Education in Canadian Schools as a Tool for the Development of Students’ Key Competences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alona Bovt
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Arts Education ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Cultural Participation ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Technological Competence ◽  
Key Competences ◽  
Development Of Students

The article is about arts education in Canadian schools, used as a tool for the development of students’ key competences. It is proven that arts education fulfils a lot of functions (develops individual capabilities, provides right to education and cultural participation, improves quality of education and the expression of cultural diversity) and has various benefits (intrinsic and extrinsic) for people. It contributes to overall development of students (moral, physical, cognitive, emotional etc.), enhances their motivation and academic success. The article shows that arts education is a powerful tool for developing Essential Graduation Learning- some of the key competences for school graduates: aesthetic expression, citizenship, communication, personal development, problem solving, technological competence, spiritual/moral development.

Polygenic Risk Score for Smoking is associated with Externalizing Psychopathology and Disinhibited Personality Traits but not Internalizing Psychopathology in Adolescence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Hicks ◽  
D. Angus Clark ◽  
Joseph D. Deak ◽  
Mengzhen Liu ◽  
C. Emily Durbin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Behavioral Disinhibition ◽  
Polygenic Risk ◽  
Externalizing Psychopathology ◽  
Internalizing Psychopathology ◽  
Random Intercept

Importance: Large consortia of genome wide association studies have yielded more accurate polygenic risk scores (PRS) that aggregate the small effects of many genetic variants to characterize the genetic architecture of disorders and provide a personalized measure of genetic risk. Objective: We examined whether a PRS for smoking measured genetic risk for general behavioral disinhibition by estimating its associations with externalizing and internalizing psychopathology and related personality traits. We examined these associations at multiple time points in adolescence using more refined phenotypes defined by stable characteristics across time and at young ages, which reduced potential confounds associated with cumulative exposure to substances and reverse causality. Methods: Random intercept panel models were fit to symptoms of conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and teacher ratings of externalizing and internalizing problems and personality traits at ages 11, 14, and 17 years-old in the Minnesota Twin Family Study (N = 3225). Results: The smoking PRS had strong associations with the random intercept factors for all the externalizing measures (mean standardized ꞵ = .27), agreeableness (ꞵ=-.22, 95% CI: -.28, -.16), and conscientiousness (ꞵ=-.19, 95% CI: -.24, -.13), but was not significantly associated with the internalizing measures (mean ꞵ = .06) or extraversion (ꞵ=.01, 95% CI: -.05, .07). After controlling for smoking at age 17, the associations with the externalizing measures (mean ꞵ = .13) and personality traits related to behavioral control (mean ꞵ = -.10) remained statistically significant. Conclusions and Relevance: The smoking PRS measures genetic influences that contribute to a spectrum of phenotypes related to behavioral disinhibition including externalizing psychopathology and normal-range personality traits related to behavioral control, but not internalizing psychopathology. Continuing to identify the correlates and delineate the mechanisms of the genetic influences associated with disinhibition could have substantial impact in mitigating a variety of public health problems (e.g., mental health, academic achievement, criminality).

scholarly journals The Role of Parent Educational Attainment in Parenting and Children’s Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-192
Author(s):  
Pamela E. Davis-Kean ◽  
Lauren A. Tighe ◽  
Nicholas E. Waters
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Home Environment ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Developmental Outcomes ◽  
Cognitive Stimulation ◽  
Educational Inequalities ◽  
Powerful Predictor

Socioeconomic status (SES)—indexed via parent educational attainment, parent occupation, and family income—is a powerful predictor of children’s developmental outcomes. Variations in these resources predict large academic disparities among children from different socioeconomic backgrounds that persist over the years of schooling, perpetuating educational inequalities across generations. In this article, we provide an overview of a model that has guided our approach to studying these influences, focusing particularly on parent educational attainment. Parents’ educational attainment typically drives their occupations and income and is often used interchangeably with SES in research. We posit that parent educational attainment provides a foundation that supports children’s academic success indirectly through parents’ beliefs about and expectations for their children, as well as through the cognitive stimulation that parents provide in and outside of the home environment. We then expand this model to consider the intergenerational contributions and dynamic transactions within families that are important considerations for informing potential avenues for intervention.

scholarly journals Middle School Students’ Perceptions of the Quality of School Life in Ankara

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Figen Eres ◽  
Pinar Bilasa
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
School Management ◽  
School Life ◽  
School Students ◽  
Quality Perception ◽  
Quality Of School Life

The aim of this research is to measure the perception of middle school students in Ankara regarding the quality of school life. According to the findings obtained, the students have moderate level perceptions about the quality of school life. Their perceptions about sub-dimensions vary. While the students have the highest perceptions about sub-dimension “status”, they have the lowest perceptions about “school management”. The students have moderate perceptions about sub-dimension “student” which includes mutual relations between students. Similarly, they have moderate perceptions about feelings towards the school which include items related with school image as perceived by the students. The school management, which is directly responsible for the school climate and image, has an impact on life quality perception. Analyzing school life quality of the students by their demographic features, it was found that female students and students in a class consisting of 10-20 students have higher school life quality perception. Although academic success of the students varies, their school life quality perception does not vary.

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