Social and Genetic Influences on Education: Testing the Scarr-Rowe Hypothesis for Education in a Comparative Perspective

Citation

Baier, Tina; Barclay, Kieron; Conley, Dalton; Laidley, Thomas; Lang, Volker; Lyngstad, Torkild Hovde; & Grätz, Michael (2019). Social and Genetic Influences on Education: Testing the Scarr-Rowe Hypothesis for Education in a Comparative Perspective. Population Association of America annual meeting. Austin, TX.

Abstract

The Scarr-Rowe hypothesis claims that impoverished environmental settings suppress gene expression, while enriched social settings enhance the realization of genetic potential. We investigate whether the relative importance of genes for school grades and educational attainment varies by family socioeconomic status. We argue that welfare regimes can moderate socioeconomic differences in the effects of genes on education. We test this prediction using data from four advanced, industrialized societies which vary in their institutional settings. We use survey data for Germany (TwinLife) and the United States (Add Health) as well as register data for Norway and Sweden. Results based on ACE variance decomposition models provide evidence for the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis for Germany and to a lesser extent for Sweden. For the US, however, we find that genes are less important for education in high than in low status families. We conclude that both individual-level characteristics and macro-structural conditions shape individuals chances for gene expression.

URL

http://paa2019.populationassociation.org/abstracts/192516

Reference Type

Conference proceeding

Book Title

Population Association of America annual meeting

Author(s)

Baier, Tina
Barclay, Kieron
Conley, Dalton
Laidley, Thomas
Lang, Volker
Lyngstad, Torkild Hovde
Grätz, Michael

Year Published

2019

City of Publication

Austin, TX

Reference ID

7288