Interaction of family socioeconomic status and genotype in the intergenerational transmission of educational and health inequalities

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dc.contributor.authorGHIRARDI, Gaia
dc.date.accessioned2025-05-19T13:38:55Z
dc.date.embargo2029-05-16
dc.date.issued2025
dc.descriptionDefence date: 16 May 2025
dc.descriptionExamining Board: Prof. Fabrizio Bernardi (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, former European University Institute, Supervisor) ; Prof. Juho Harkonen (European University Institute) ; Prof. Nicola Barban (University of Bologna) ; Prof Melinda Mills (University of Oxford)
dc.description.abstractThis thesis includes five empirical studies examining whether family socioeconomic status (SES) amplifies or compensates for genetic propensities on educational and health outcomes, as a mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of inequalities. It focuses on how genetic associations with traits like educational attainment, cognitive and noncognitive skills, externalizing behaviors, and BMI are moderated by family factors, primarily SES and parental separation, using data from the US, the Netherlands, and the UK. The first study finds that high-SES parents in the US compensate for low genetic propensity in less selective educational outcomes (e.g., high school) and enhance it in more selective ones (e.g., graduate school). The second study reports similar compensation for low genetic propensity for cognitive skills in academic tracking in the Netherlands but no interaction for educational outcomes. The third study shows that high-SES children in the US face stronger parental separation penalties due to a lack of compensatory strategies among children with low genetic propensities for education. Lastly, the fourth and fifth studies show that genetic propensities for externalizing behaviors and BMI are more strongly linked to adverse school outcomes and overweight, respectively, among low-SES individuals, highlighting the compensatory or triggering role of family SES. This dissertation makes at least three key contributions to the literature. First, it advances our understanding of how social inequalities are transmitted across generations by showing that socioeconomic environment of the family of origin moderates genetic associations. Second, it develops a more comprehensive theoretical framework for gene-environment research by integrating social stratification theories—such as the compensatory and boosting advantage models—into a field traditionally dominated by psychological models like the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis. Third, this dissertation employs a range of techniques and research designs, such as within-family or trio designs, to address the main methodological challenges currently faced in sociogenomics and gene-environment research.
dc.description.versionChapter 2 'Integrating molecular genetic data into social stratification research' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Compensating or boosting genetic propensities? : gene-family socioeconomic status interactions by educational outcome selectivity' (2025) in the journal 'Social science research'. Chapter 3 'The role of family SES and genetic factors in shaping educational and health outcomes' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Interaction of family SES with children’s genetic propensity for cognitive and noncognitive skills: no evidence of the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis for educational outcomes' (2024) in the journal 'Research in social stratification and mobility'
dc.embargo.terms2029-05-16
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationFlorence : European University Institute, 2025
dc.identifier.doi10.2870/4604565
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/92696
dc.language.isoen
dc.orcid.putcode1814/80130:184406733
dc.publisherEuropean University Institute
dc.relation.ispartofseriesEUI
dc.relation.ispartofseriesSPS
dc.relation.ispartofseriesPhD Thesis
dc.relation.replaceshttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/78252
dc.relation.replaceshttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/92695
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.titleInteraction of family socioeconomic status and genotype in the intergenerational transmission of educational and health inequalities
dc.typeThesis
dspace.entity.typePublication
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-7680-0627
person.identifier.other45072
relation.isAuthorOfPublicatione20827b0-d7a4-401c-8d25-a1843d2e7427
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoverye20827b0-d7a4-401c-8d25-a1843d2e7427
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