Genes linked to educational attainment are also tied to fewer behavior problems in kids, mainly through cognitive pathways

A recent study suggests that genetic variants linked to higher educational achievement are also connected to reduced behavioral and emotional issues in children and teens, primarily in areas of attention and stress-related physical complaints. This relationship seems to be driven mainly by the cognitive portion of the polygenic index (PGI), responsible for cognitive test performance, rather than the non-cognitive component.

The study, published in Behavior Genetics, sheds new light on how educational attainment-related PGI's correlate with youth mental health and emotional development. Researchers utilize a polygenic index, or PGI, to represent statistical patterns across the human genome, capturing a combination of genetic variation, social structures, and environmental opportunities.

This index is applied to complex outcomes like educational attainment, which reflects total years of formal schooling. Childhood behavioral challenges are typically categorized into internalizing and externalizing problems; internalizing problems refer to difficulties experienced inwardly, such as anxiety, sadness, social withdrawal, and physical complaints linked to emotional distress, while externalizing problems involve outward-directed behaviors like rule-breaking and aggression.

To untangle genetic links to these behaviors within families, researchers must account for the influence of parental DNA and the home environment, known as genetic nurture. In a 2018 study, researchers found that parental genetics can influence children partly through shaping the rearing environment. The current study, published in Behavior Genetics, reveals that genetic variants associated with higher educational attainment are also tied to fewer behavior problems in kids, mainly through cognitive pathways.