scholarly journals No support for the genetic hypothesis of the Black-white achievement gap using polygenic scores and tests for divergent selection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Andrew Bird
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Genetic Differences ◽  
Divergent Selection ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Race Science ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Cautious Interpretation ◽  
Cognitive Gaps ◽  
New Generation

A protracted debate about the cause of IQ score gaps between Black and white populations has persisted within genetics, anthropology, and psychology. Public genomic data have changed these fields in many ways; as a side effect they have encouraged a new generation of race science. Recently, authors have claimed polygenic scores provide evidence a significant portion of differences in cognitive ability between Black and white populations are caused by genetic differences, frequently claiming these differences are due to natural selection. In light of recent calls for cautious interpretation of polygenic-score analyses, I apply methods to detect genetic differentiation and polygenic selection that address biases in polygenic scores, testing the claim that genetic differences explain cognitive gaps and that divergent selection occurred between populations with African and European ancestry. I provide evidence inconsistent with divergent selection and genetic differences driving the Black-white gap in cognitive ability, demonstrating that past results were inflated.

scholarly journals The Effect of Biracial Status and Color on Crystallized Intelligence in the U.S.-Born African–European American Population

Psych ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-54
Author(s):  
John Fuerst ◽  
Richard Lynn ◽  
Emil Kirkegaard
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
European American ◽  
Crystallized Intelligence ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Sub Saharan

The relationship between biracial status, color, and crystallized intelligence was examined in a nationally representative sample of adult Black and White Americans. First, it was found that self-identifying biracial individuals, who were found to be intermediate in color and in self-reported ancestry, had intermediate levels of crystallized intelligence relative to self-identifying White (mostly European ancestry) and Black (mostly sub-Saharan African ancestry) Americans. The results were transformed to an IQ scale: White (M = 100.00, N = 7569), primarily White–biracial (M = 96.07, N = 43, primarily Black–biracial (M = 94.14 N = 50), and Black (M = 89.81, N = 1381). Next, among self-identifying African Americans, a statistically significant negative correlation of r = −0.102 (N = 637) was found between interviewer-rated darker facial color and vocabulary scores. After correction for the reliability of the measures, this correlation increased to r = −0.21. Corrections for the validity of color as an index of African ancestry would raise this correlation to around r = −0.48. This association among self-identifying African Americans was not accounted for by confounding factors, such as region of residence and interviewer race, or by parental socioeconomic status and individual educational attainment. In the multivariate models, the standardized betas for color and crystallized intelligence among African Americans ranged from β = −0.112 to β = −0.142. Based on the coefficients from the multivariate analysis, it was further found that cognitive ability was a significant mediator in the context of color and education, while education was not in the context of color and cognitive ability. It is concluded that these results further substantiate the statistical relation between intelligence and biogeographic ancestry in African and European American populations.

scholarly journals Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability

Psych ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 431-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Lasker ◽  
Bryan J. Pesta ◽  
John G. R. Fuerst ◽  
Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Full Range ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Race Difference ◽  
American Sample ◽  
European Americans ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
African American Sample

Using data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, we examined whether European ancestry predicted cognitive ability over and above both parental socioeconomic status (SES) and measures of eye, hair, and skin color. First, using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, we verified that strict factorial invariance held between self-identified African and European-Americans. The differences between these groups, which were equivalent to 14.72 IQ points, were primarily (75.59%) due to difference in general cognitive ability (g), consistent with Spearman’s hypothesis. We found a relationship between European admixture and g. This relationship existed in samples of (a) self-identified monoracial African-Americans (B = 0.78, n = 2,179), (b) monoracial African and biracial African-European-Americans, with controls added for self-identified biracial status (B = 0.85, n = 2407), and (c) combined European, African-European, and African-American participants, with controls for self-identified race/ethnicity (B = 0.75, N = 7,273). Controlling for parental SES modestly attenuated these relationships whereas controlling for measures of skin, hair, and eye color did not. Next, we validated four sets of polygenic scores for educational attainment (eduPGS). MTAG, the multi-trait analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS) eduPGS (based on 8442 overlapping variants) predicted g in both the monoracial African-American (r = 0.111, n = 2179, p < 0.001), and the European-American (r = 0.227, n = 4914, p < 0.001) subsamples. We also found large race differences for the means of eduPGS (d = 1.89). Using the ancestry-adjusted association between MTAG eduPGS and g from the monoracial African-American sample as an estimate of the transracially unbiased validity of eduPGS (B = 0.124), the results suggest that as much as 20%–25% of the race difference in g can be naïvely explained by known cognitive ability-related variants. Moreover, path analysis showed that the eduPGS substantially mediated associations between cognitive ability and European ancestry in the African-American sample. Subtest differences, together with the effects of both ancestry and eduPGS, had near-identity with subtest g-loadings. This finding confirmed a Jensen effect acting on ancestry-related differences. Finally, we confirmed measurement invariance along the full range of European ancestry in the combined sample using local structural equation modeling. Results converge on genetics as a potential partial explanation for group mean differences in intelligence.

scholarly journals Filling in the Gaps: The Association between Intelligence and Both Color and Parent-Reported Ancestry in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997

Psych ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 240-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Hu ◽  
Jordan Lasker ◽  
Emil Kirkegaard ◽  
John Fuerst
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Weak Version ◽  
Regression To The Mean ◽  
Environmental Variance ◽  
Sibling Pairs ◽  
Black And White ◽  
The Mean

Little research has dealt with intragroup ancestry-related differences in intelligence in Black and White Americans. To help fill this gap, we examined the association between intelligence and both color and parent-reported ancestry using the NLSY97. We used a nationally-representative sample, a multidimensional measure of cognitive ability, and a sibling design. We found that African ancestry was negatively correlated with general mental ability scores among Whites (r = −0.038, N = 3603; corrected for attenuation, rc = −0.245). In contrast, the correlation between ability and parent-reported European ancestry was positive among Blacks (r = 0.137, N = 1788; rc = 0.344). Among Blacks, the correlation with darker skin color, an index of African ancestry, was negative (r = −0.112, N = 1455). These results remained with conspicuous controls. Among Blacks, both color and parent-reported European ancestry had independent effects on general cognitive ability (color: β = −0.104; ancestry: β = 0.118; N = 1445). These associations were more pronounced on g-loaded subtests, indicating a Jensen Effect for both color and ancestry (rs = 0.679 to 0.850). When we decomposed the color results for the African ancestry sample between and within families, we found an association between families, between singletons (β = −0.153; N = 814), and between full sibling pairs (β = −0.176; N = 225). However, we found no association between full siblings (β = 0.027; N = 225). Differential regression to the mean results indicated that the factors causing the mean group difference acted across the cognitive spectrum, with high-scoring African Americans no less affected than low-scoring ones. We tested for measurement invariance and found that strict factorial invariance was tenable. We then found that the weak version of Spearman’s hypothesis was tenable while the strong and contra versions were not. The results imply that the observed cognitive differences are primarily due to differences in g and that the Black-White mean difference is attributable to the same factors that cause differences within both groups. Further examination revealed comparable intraclass correlations and absolute differences for Black and White full siblings. This implied that the non-shared environmental variance components were similar in magnitude for both Blacks and Whites.

scholarly journals The Effect of Biracial Status and Color on Crystallized Intelligence in the U.S.-Born African–European American Population

Psych ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Fuerst ◽  
Richard Lynn ◽  
Emil Kirkegaard
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
European American ◽  
Crystallized Intelligence ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Sub Saharan

The relationship between biracial status, color, and crystallized intelligence was examined in a nationally representative sample of adult Black and White Americans. First, it was found that self-identifying biracial individuals, who were found to be intermediate in color and in self-reported ancestry, had intermediate levels of crystallized intelligence relative to self-identifying White (mostly European ancestry) and Black (mostly sub-Saharan African ancestry) Americans. The results were transformed to an IQ scale: White (M = 100.00, N = 7569), primarily White–biracial (M = 96.07, N = 43, primarily Black–biracial (M = 94.14 N = 50), and Black (M = 89.81, N = 1381). Next, among self-identifying African Americans, a statistically significant negative correlation of r = −0.102 (N = 637) was found between interviewer-rated darker facial color and vocabulary scores. After correction for the reliability of the measures, this correlation increased to r = −0.21. Corrections for the validity of color as an index of African ancestry would raise this correlation to around r = −0.48. This association among self-identifying African Americans was not accounted for by confounding factors, such as region of residence and interviewer race, or by parental socioeconomic status and individual educational attainment. In the multivariate models, the standardized betas for color and crystallized intelligence among African Americans ranged from β = −0.112 to β = −0.142. Based on the coefficients from the multivariate analysis, it was further found that cognitive ability was a significant mediator in the context of color and education, while education was not in the context of color and cognitive ability. It is concluded that these results further substantiate the statistical relation between intelligence and biogeographic ancestry in African and European American populations.

scholarly journals Intelligence-associated Polygenic Scores Predict g, Independent of Ancestry, Parental Educational Levels, and Color among Hispanics in comparison to European, European- African, and African Americans

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan J. Pesta ◽  
John G. R. Fuerst ◽  
Davide Piffer ◽  
Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Population Stratification ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Genetic Ancestry ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Path Analyses ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Racial Ethnic

AbstractPolygenic scores for educational attainment and intelligence (eduPGS), genetic ancestry, and cognitive ability have been found to be inter-correlated in some admixed American populations. We argue that this could either be due to causally-relevant genetic differences between ancestral groups or be due to population stratification-related confounding. Moreover, we argue that it is important to determine which scenario is the case so to better assess the validity of eduPGS. We investigate the confounding vs. causal concern by examining, in detail, the relation between eduPGS, ancestry, and general cognitive ability in East Coast Hispanic and non-Hispanic samples. European ancestry was correlated with g in the admixed Hispanic (r = .30, N = 506), European-African (r = .26, N = 228), and African (r = .084, N = 2,179) American samples. Among Hispanics and the combined sample, these associations were robust to controls for racial / ethnic self-identification, genetically predicted color, and parental education. Additionally, eduPGS predicted g among Hispanics (B = 0.175, N = 506) and all other groups (European: B = 0.230, N = 4914; European-African: B = 0.215, N = 228; African: B = 0.126, N = 2179) with controls for ancestry. Path analyses revealed that eduPGS, but not color, partially statistically explained the association between g and European ancestry among both Hispanics and the combined sample. Of additional note, we were unable to account for eduPGS differences between ancestral populations using common tests for ascertainment bias and confounding related to population stratification. Overall, our results suggest that eduPGS derived from European samples can be used to predict g in American populations. However, owing to the uncertain cause of the differences in eduPGS, it is not yet clear how the effect of ancestry should be handled. We argue that more research is needed to determine the source of the relation between eduPGS, genetic ancestry, and cognitive ability.

Contrasting Broad- and Clinically- defined Polygenic Indicators of Depression and Depression-related Phenotypes in Adults and Children

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. McGeary ◽  
Chelsie Benca-Bachman ◽  
Victoria Risner ◽  
Christopher G Beevers ◽  
Brandon Gibb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Cognitive Reappraisal ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Summary Statistics ◽  
Depression Severity ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
The Uk

Twin studies indicate that 30-40% of the disease liability for depression can be attributed to genetic differences. Here, we assess the explanatory ability of polygenic scores (PGS) based on broad- (PGSBD) and clinical- (PGSMDD) depression summary statistics from the UK Biobank using independent cohorts of adults (N=210; 100% European Ancestry) and children (N=728; 70% European Ancestry) who have been extensively phenotyped for depression and related neurocognitive phenotypes. PGS associations with depression severity and diagnosis were generally modest, and larger in adults than children. Polygenic prediction of depression-related phenotypes was mixed and varied by PGS. Higher PGSBD, in adults, was associated with a higher likelihood of having suicidal ideation, increased brooding and anhedonia, and lower levels of cognitive reappraisal; PGSMDD was positively associated with brooding and negatively related to cognitive reappraisal. Overall, PGS based on both broad and clinical depression phenotypes have modest utility in adult and child samples of depression.

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