Genetic effects on educational attainment in Hungary

Abstract

Educational attainment is a substantially heritable trait, and it has recently been linked to specific genetic variants by genome-wide association studies (GWASs). However, the effects of such genetic variants are expected to vary across environments, including countries and historical eras. We used polygenic scores (PGSs) to assess molecular genetic effects on educational attainment in Hungary, a country in the Central Eastern European region where behavioral genetic studies are in general scarce and molecular genetic studies of educational attainment have not been previously published. We found that the PGS is significantly associated with highest educational level attained as well as the number of years in education in a sample of Hungarian volunteers (N=829). In an English (N=976) comparison sample with identical measurement protocols the same PGS had a stronger association with educational level, but not with years in education. In line with previous Estonian findings, we found higher PGS effect sizes in Hungarian, but not in English participants who attended higher education after the fall of Communism, although we lacked statistical power for this effect to reach significance. Our results provide evidence that polygenic scores for educational attainment are valid in diverse European populations.