TY - JOUR
T1 - A polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout
AU - Dawes, Christopher T.
AU - Okbay, Aysu
AU - Oskarsson, Sven
AU - Rustichini, Aldo
N1 - Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileums-fond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240).
Funding Information:
S.O. received support from the Swedish Research Council (Grants 2017-02472 and 2019-00244) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Grant P18-0782:1). This research uses data from the WLS, Add Health, and MCTFR. The WLS is funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grants R01 AG009775, R01 AG033285, R01 AG060737, and R01 AG041868). Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging Cooperative Agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I through V data are from the Add Health Program Project, Grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MCTFR is supported by grants from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA09367 and AA11886), the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH066140), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grants DA05147 and DA013240).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12/14
Y1 - 2021/12/14
N2 - Twin and adoption studies have shown that individual difference in political participation can be explained, in part, by geneti variation. However, these research designs cannot identify whic genes are related to voting or the pathways through which the exert influence, and their conclusions rely on possibly restrictiv assumptions. In this study, we use three different US sample and a Swedish sample to test whether genes that have bee identified as associated with educational attainment, one of th strongest correlates of political participation, predict self-reporte and validated voter turnout. We find that a polygenic scor capturing individuals’ genetic propensity to acquire education i significantly related to turnout. The strongest associations w observe are in second-order midterm elections in the United State and European Parliament elections in Sweden, which tend t be viewed as less important by voters, parties, and the medi and thus present a more information-poor electoral environmen for citizens to navigate. A within-family analysis suggests tha individuals’ education-linked genes directly affect their votin behavior, but, for second-order elections, it also reveals evidenc of genetic nurture. Finally, a mediation analysis suggests that ed ucational attainment and cognitive ability combine to account fo between 41% and 63% of the relationship between the geneti propensity to acquire education and voter turnout.
AB - Twin and adoption studies have shown that individual difference in political participation can be explained, in part, by geneti variation. However, these research designs cannot identify whic genes are related to voting or the pathways through which the exert influence, and their conclusions rely on possibly restrictiv assumptions. In this study, we use three different US sample and a Swedish sample to test whether genes that have bee identified as associated with educational attainment, one of th strongest correlates of political participation, predict self-reporte and validated voter turnout. We find that a polygenic scor capturing individuals’ genetic propensity to acquire education i significantly related to turnout. The strongest associations w observe are in second-order midterm elections in the United State and European Parliament elections in Sweden, which tend t be viewed as less important by voters, parties, and the medi and thus present a more information-poor electoral environmen for citizens to navigate. A within-family analysis suggests tha individuals’ education-linked genes directly affect their votin behavior, but, for second-order elections, it also reveals evidenc of genetic nurture. Finally, a mediation analysis suggests that ed ucational attainment and cognitive ability combine to account fo between 41% and 63% of the relationship between the geneti propensity to acquire education and voter turnout.
KW - Cognitive ability
KW - Education
KW - Polygenic score
KW - Turnout
KW - Voting
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2022715118
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2022715118
M3 - Article
C2 - 34873032
AN - SCOPUS:85121030195
VL - 118
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 50
M1 - e2022715118
ER -