Informing educational interventions using genome-wide data: causal evidence from 573,586 participants of eight cohort studies

在此期间，我将利用英国和国外纵向队列研究的财富遗传数据，对现代经济学，心理学和社会学的三个核心问题进行创新研究：学术成就，非认知技能和关系中的选择性匹配。这些是社会科学领域研究最多的主题（1-4）。许多研究人员认为，基因组在这些主题中发挥着重要作用，但我们对此的直接证据相对较少。这一领域现有研究的一个主要局限是，它一直在努力解释个体之间的内在差异。我将通过结合来自英国和世界各地的八项纵向队列研究的生物社会和全基因组数据的日益丰富，以及用于因果推理的尖端计量经济学和统计方法来克服这一限制。这些新的数据和方法提供了一个机会，新的证据和发现的研究问题，以前很难或不可能解决（5，6）。我的研究目标是调查以下三个研究问题：1）如何影响的三个遗传变异与教育程度介导？它们对劳动力市场结果的长期影响是什么？到目前为止，我们知道三个与教育程度相关的个体遗传变异。我们不知道哪些生物社会机制介导了这些影响。在这次研究期间，我将使用英国生物银行的数据进行调查。这项队列研究拥有50万人的全基因组数据。由于其规模，英国生物库将提供无与伦比的统计能力，以调查这些协会的病因及其长期后果。我将试图复制我的发现，并使用英国老龄化纵向研究（N= 8，000）和理解社会（N= 10，000）中包含的丰富和高度详细的信息更详细地调查这些关系。2）认知和非认知技能的遗传结构是什么？非认知技能是一组心理性格特征，被认为会影响学校和工作中的成功，例如动机，毅力，情商，弹性和自我控制（7）。关于非认知技能的重要性的研究导致了旨在提高儿童非认知技能的政策干预（2，8-10）。然而，虽然我们知道这些技能与结果有关，但我们不知道它们是否会在学校或工作中取得成功。我将使用来自雅芳父母和子女纵向研究（ALSPAC）后代（N= 8，365）的全基因组数据来补充这个问题的证据。我将试图在全国儿童发育研究（N=5,595）和双胞胎早期发育研究（N=3,500）中复制这些结果。对于使用全基因组数据集解释社会科学研究的结果，选择性交配的后果是什么？尽管有“异性相吸”的说法，但配偶往往比从人口中随机选择的两个人更相似。在这个项目中，我将调查这是否是因为配偶来自相似的背景，或者配偶也更有可能有相似的遗传变异，而不是偶然的。这对解释使用全基因组数据的研究结果具有影响。我将使用来自英国生物银行，ALSPAC母亲和父亲（N= 10，107和2000分别），健康和退休研究（N= 15，620）和苏格兰一代研究（N= 10，399）的数据。

During this fellowship I will use the wealth genetic data from longitudinal cohort studies in UK and abroad to conduct innovative research into three core issues in modern economics, psychology and sociology: academic attainment, non-cognitive skills, and assortative matching in relationships. These are some of the most heavily researched topics across a range of social sciences (1-4). Many researchers have argued that the genome plays an important role in each of these topics, yet we have relatively little direct evidence about this. A major limitation of much of the existing research in this area is that it has struggled to account for intrinsic differences between individuals. I will overcome this limitation by combining the growing wealth of biosocial and genome-wide data, from eight longitudinal cohort studies from the UK and others around the world, with cutting edge econometric and statistical methods for causal inference. These novel data and methods offer an opportunity for new evidence and discoveries about research questions which were previously difficult or impossible to address (5, 6).My research objectives are to investigate the following three research questions:1) How are the effects of three genetic variants which associate with educational attainment mediated? What are their long-term effects on labour market outcomes?To date, we know of three individual genetic variants that are associated with education attainment. We do not know which biosocial mechanisms mediate these effects. During this fellowship I will investigate this using data from the UK Biobank. This cohort study has genome-wide data on 500,000 individuals. Due to its size, the UK Biobank will offer unparalleled statistical power to investigate the aetiology of these associations and their long-term consequences. I will seek to replicate my findings, and investigate these relationships in more detail using rich and highly detailed information contained in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (N=8,000), and Understanding Society (N=10,000).2) What is the genetic architecture of cognitive and non-cognitive skills, and educational outcomes across the life course?Non-cognitive skills are a set of psychological character traits which are thought to influence success in school and at work, for example motivation, perseverance, emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-control (7). Research about the importance of non-cognitive skills has led to policy interventions which aim to improve children's non-cognitive skills (2, 8-10). However, whilst we know that these skills are associated with outcomes, we do not know if they cause success in school or work. I will add to the evidence about this question using genome-wide data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) offspring (N=8,365). I will seek to replicate these results in the National Child Development Study (N=5,595) and The Twins Early Development Study (N=3,500).3) How does assortative mating affect the human genome? What are the consequences of assortative mating for interpreting the results of social-science studies using genome-wide datasets?Despite the saying 'opposites attract', spouses tend to be more alike than two randomly chosen individuals from the population. In this project I will investigate whether this is because spouses come from similar backgrounds, or if spouses are also more likely to have similar genetic variants than would be expected by chance. This has implications for interpreting the results of studies using genome-wide data. I will use data from UK Biobank, ALSPAC mothers and fathers (N=10,107 and 2000 respectively), the Health and Retirement Study (N=15,620) and the Generation Scotland study (N=10,399).