Disentangling genetic and social pathways of the intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability – A nuclear twin family study

IF 2.7 1区社会学 Q1 SOCIOLOGY

Research in Social Stratification and Mobility Pub Date : 2024-09-11 DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2024.100980

Tobias Wolfram , Mirko Ruks , Frank M. Spinath

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

As cognitive ability accounts for large parts of the intergenerational transmission of advantage, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms driving the intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability itself. Social mobility research usually focuses on social mechanisms of intergenerational transmission. For the case of cognitive ability, this means that parental cognitive ability affects offspring ability via the family environment. However, parents do not only provide resources, but also pass their genes to their children. As social and genetic transmission are not mutually exclusive, it is crucial to disentangle the contribution of both to the intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability. Using data from the German TwinLife survey, we apply a nuclear twin family design to address this question. Using data from all four twin birth cohorts, covering an age range of 5–25 years, we further explore whether the contribution of both mechanisms varies over the life course. For all four cohorts, in any of the estimated models, social transmission is very small and not significant. Genetic transmission, in turn, seems to be the primary mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability and becomes increasingly important with age. Our findings challenge conventional social mobility perspectives, stressing the need to incorporate genetic transmission into sociological research for a more comprehensive understanding of intergenerational transmission of advantage.

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厘清认知能力代际传递的遗传和社会途径--一项核心双胞胎家庭研究

由于认知能力在优势代际传递中占很大比重，因此了解认知能力代际传递本身的驱动机制至关重要。社会流动性研究通常关注代际传递的社会机制。就认知能力而言，这意味着父母的认知能力会通过家庭环境影响后代的能力。然而，父母不仅提供资源，还会把自己的基因传给子女。由于社会传递和基因传递并不相互排斥，因此，厘清两者对认知能力代际传递的贡献至关重要。我们利用德国双胞胎生活调查的数据，采用核心双胞胎家庭设计来解决这个问题。利用所有四个双胞胎出生组群（年龄范围为 5-25 岁）的数据，我们进一步探讨了这两种机制的贡献在生命过程中是否存在差异。对于所有四个队列，在任何一个估计模型中，社会传递都非常小，而且不显著。而基因遗传似乎是认知能力代际传递的主要机制，并且随着年龄的增长变得越来越重要。我们的研究结果对传统的社会流动性观点提出了挑战，强调有必要将遗传传递纳入社会学研究，以更全面地了解优势的代际传递。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Research in Social Stratification and Mobility SOCIOLOGY-

CiteScore

7.80

自引率

6.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The study of social inequality is and has been one of the central preoccupations of social scientists. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility is dedicated to publishing the highest, most innovative research on issues of social inequality from a broad diversity of theoretical and methodological perspectives. The journal is also dedicated to cutting edge summaries of prior research and fruitful exchanges that will stimulate future research on issues of social inequality. The study of social inequality is and has been one of the central preoccupations of social scientists.