Lucas C Perry, Nicolas Chevalier, Michelle Luciano
{"title":"Maternal education and prenatal smoking associations with adolescent executive function are substantially confounded by genetics.","authors":"Lucas C Perry, Nicolas Chevalier, Michelle Luciano","doi":"10.1037/dev0001919","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Twin studies have suggested extremely high estimates of heritability for adolescent executive function, with no substantial contributions from shared environment. However, developmental psychology research has found significant correlations between executive function outcomes and elements of the environment that would be shared in twins. It is unclear whether these seemingly contradictory findings are best explained by genetic confounding in developmental studies or limitations in twin studies, which can potentially underestimate shared environment. In this study, we use genetic and phenotypic data from 5,939 participants, 4,827 participant mothers, and 2,903 participant fathers in the Millennium cohort to examine the role of genetics in explaining common environmental associations with executive function, assessed by the spatial working memory (SWM) task and Cambridge Gambling task. Bivariate genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) revealed that single-nucleotide polymorphism effects were the sole significant predictor of the association between SWM and both maternal education and prenatal smoking. maternal GCTA and trioGCTA also found no significant evidence of indirect genetic effects on SWM, indicating that genetic nurture is unlikely to explain the bivariate GCTA results. The Cambridge Gambling task showed no significant single-nucleotide polymorphism heritability, suggesting that genetic influences on hot executive function may differ significantly from those on cool executive function. This study supports the twin study claim that the working memory component of executive function is primarily a genetic trait with minimal influence from shared environment, emphasizing the importance of using genetically sensitive designs to ensure that genetic confounding does not falsely inflate estimates of environmental influences on traits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1594-1605"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001919","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/20 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Twin studies have suggested extremely high estimates of heritability for adolescent executive function, with no substantial contributions from shared environment. However, developmental psychology research has found significant correlations between executive function outcomes and elements of the environment that would be shared in twins. It is unclear whether these seemingly contradictory findings are best explained by genetic confounding in developmental studies or limitations in twin studies, which can potentially underestimate shared environment. In this study, we use genetic and phenotypic data from 5,939 participants, 4,827 participant mothers, and 2,903 participant fathers in the Millennium cohort to examine the role of genetics in explaining common environmental associations with executive function, assessed by the spatial working memory (SWM) task and Cambridge Gambling task. Bivariate genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) revealed that single-nucleotide polymorphism effects were the sole significant predictor of the association between SWM and both maternal education and prenatal smoking. maternal GCTA and trioGCTA also found no significant evidence of indirect genetic effects on SWM, indicating that genetic nurture is unlikely to explain the bivariate GCTA results. The Cambridge Gambling task showed no significant single-nucleotide polymorphism heritability, suggesting that genetic influences on hot executive function may differ significantly from those on cool executive function. This study supports the twin study claim that the working memory component of executive function is primarily a genetic trait with minimal influence from shared environment, emphasizing the importance of using genetically sensitive designs to ensure that genetic confounding does not falsely inflate estimates of environmental influences on traits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍：
Developmental Psychology ® publishes articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span. The journal focuses on seminal empirical contributions. The journal occasionally publishes exceptionally strong scholarly reviews and theoretical or methodological articles. Studies of any aspect of psychological development are appropriate, as are studies of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development. The journal welcomes not only laboratory-based experimental studies but studies employing other rigorous methodologies, such as ethnographies, field research, and secondary analyses of large data sets. We especially seek submissions in new areas of inquiry and submissions that will address contradictory findings or controversies in the field as well as the generalizability of extant findings in new populations. Although most articles in this journal address human development, studies of other species are appropriate if they have important implications for human development. Submissions can consist of single manuscripts, proposed sections, or short reports.
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