Socioeconomic status (SES) impacts health and life course outcomes. This GWAS (Genome-Wide Association Study) on sociologically-informed occupational status measures (ISEI, SIOPS, and CAMSIS) using the UKBiobank (N=273,157) identified 106 independent SNPs of which 8 are novel to the study of SES. Genetic correlation analyses point to a common genetic factor for SES. Reduction in within-family compared to population-based prediction was attributed in equal parts to indirect parental effects and assortative mating. Using polygenic scores from population predictions of 5-8%, we, firstly, showed that cognitive and non-cognitive traits – including scholastic and occupational motivation and aspiration – link genetic scores to occupational status. Second, 62% of the intergenerational transmission of occupational status can be ascribed to non-genetic inheritance such as family environment and possibly the effects of rare genetic variants. Finally, the link between genetics, occupation, career trajectory, and health are interrelated with parental occupational status.
Presented by:
Professor Melinda Mills (University of Oxford)
Date & time:
June 25, 2024 12:30 pm - June 25, 2024 1:30 pm
Venue:
2N2.4.16 (to join us online, please contact the seminar series organisers at iserseminars@essex.ac.uk)
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