Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence

Elliot M. Tucker-Drob; Timothy C. Bates

doi:10.1177/0956797615612727

Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence

¹Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
²Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
³Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh

Elliot M. Tucker-Drob, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E. Dean Keeton Stop A8000, Austin, TX 78712 E-mail: tuckerdrob{at}utexas.edu
Timothy C. Bates, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9JZ E-mail: tim.bates{at}ed.ac.uk

Author Contributions E. M. Tucker-Drob and T. C. Bates conceived the project; acquired, reanalyzed, and standardized the data; and wrote the manuscript. E. M. Tucker-Drob conducted the meta-analyses and power analyses. Both authors contributed equally to this article.

Abstract

A core hypothesis in developmental theory predicts that genetic influences on intelligence and academic achievement are suppressed under conditions of socioeconomic privation and more fully realized under conditions of socioeconomic advantage: a Gene × Childhood Socioeconomic Status (SES) interaction. Tests of this hypothesis have produced apparently inconsistent results. We performed a meta-analysis of tests of Gene × SES interaction on intelligence and academic-achievement test scores, allowing for stratification by nation (United States vs. non–United States), and we conducted rigorous tests for publication bias and between-studies heterogeneity. In U.S. studies, we found clear support for moderately sized Gene × SES effects. In studies from Western Europe and Australia, where social policies ensure more uniform access to high-quality education and health care, Gene × SES effects were zero or reversed.

Article Notes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.
Funding The Population Research Center at the University of Texas is supported by National Institutes of Health Grant No. R24HD042849. Portions of this article were prepared while E. M. Tucker-Drob was supported as a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation.
Supplemental Material Additional supporting information can be found at http://pss.sagepub.com/content/by/supplemental-data
Open Practices

All data have been made publicly available via Open Science Framework and can be accessed at https://osf.io/vkmep. The complete Open Practices Disclosure for this article can be found at http://pss.sagepub.com/content/by/supplemental-data. This article has received a badge for Open Data. More information about the Open Practices badges can be found at https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki/1.%20View%20the%20Badges/ and http://pss.sagepub.com/content/25/1/3.full.