Disentangling the interplay between genes, cognitive skills, and educational level in adolescent and young adult smoking – The TRAILS study

Heiko Schmengler; Albertine J. Oldehinkel; Wilma Vollebergh; Joëlle A. Pasman; C.A. Hartman; Gonneke Stevens; I.M. Nolte; Margot Peeters

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116254

Disentangling the interplay between genes, cognitive skills, and educational level in adolescent and young adult smoking – The TRAILS study

Heiko Schmengler^*, Albertine J. Oldehinkel, Wilma Vollebergh, Joëlle A. Pasman, C.A. Hartman, Gonneke Stevens, I.M. Nolte, Margot Peeters

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that smoking and lower educational attainment may have genetic influences in common. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which genetics contributes to educational inequalities in adolescent and young adult smoking. Common genetic liabilities may underlie cognitive skills associated with both smoking and education, such as IQ and effortful control, in line with indirect health-related selection explanations. Additionally, by affecting cognitive skills, genes may predict educational trajectories and hereby adolescents’ social context, which may be associated with smoking, consistent with social causation explanations. Using data from the Dutch TRAILS Study (N = 1581), we estimated the extent to which polygenic scores (PGSs) for ever smoking regularly (PGSSMOK) and years of education (PGSEDU) predict IQ and effortful control, measured around age 11, and whether these cognitive skills then act as shared predictors of smoking and educational level around age 16, 19, 22, and 26. Second, we assessed if educational level mediated associations between PGSs and smoking. Both PGSs were associated with lower effortful control, and PGSEDU also with lower IQ. Lower IQ and effortful control, in turn, predicted having a lower educational level. However, neither of these cognitive skills were directly associated with smoking behaviour after controlling for covariates and PGSs. This suggests that IQ and effortful control are not shared predictors of smoking and education (i.e., no indirect health-related selection related to cognitive skills). Instead, PGSSMOK and PGSEDU, partly through their associations with lower cognitive skills, predicted selection into a lower educational track, which in turn was associated with more smoking, in line with social causation explanations. Our findings suggest that educational differences in the social context contribute to associations between genetic liabilities and educational inequalities in smoking.

Original language	English
Article number	116254
Number of pages	13
Journal	Social Science & Medicine
Volume	336
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116254
Publication status	Published - Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Funding

This study is made possible by the Consortium on Individual Development (CID). CID is funded through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research ( NWO ) (grant number 024.001.003 ). This research is part of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Organizations participating in TRAILS include various departments of the University Medical Center and University of Groningen, Utrecht University, the Radboud University Medical Center, and the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, all in the Netherlands. TRAILS has been financially supported by various grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), ZonMW , GB-MaGW , the Dutch Ministry of Justice ( WODC ), the European Science Foundation , the European Research Council , BBMRI-NL, and the participating universities. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The authors would like to thank the participants of the TRAILS Study and all staff involved in the management and execution of this project. This study is made possible by the Consortium on Individual Development (CID). CID is funded through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) (grant number 024.001.003). This research is part of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Organizations participating in TRAILS include various departments of the University Medical Center and University of Groningen, Utrecht University, the Radboud University Medical Center, and the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, all in the Netherlands. TRAILS has been financially supported by various grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), ZonMW, GB-MaGW, the Dutch Ministry of Justice (WODC), the European Science Foundation, the European Research Council, BBMRI-NL, and the participating universities. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The authors would like to thank the participants of the TRAILS Study and all staff involved in the management and execution of this project.

Funders	Funder number
BBMRI-NL
Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science
Dutch Ministry of Justice
Parnassia Psychiatric Institute
University Medical Center
European Research Council
European Science Foundation
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
ZonMw
Universiteit Utrecht
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	024.001.003
Radboud Universitair Medisch Centrum
Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum

Keywords

Adolescence
Cognitive skills
Educational level
Polygenic scores
Smoking
Young adulthood

Access to Document

10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116254Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S0277953623006111-mainFinal published version, 2.55 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{0a29b9ea183741c5be3b43d0c0593a0b,

title = "Disentangling the interplay between genes, cognitive skills, and educational level in adolescent and young adult smoking – The TRAILS study",

abstract = "Recent studies suggest that smoking and lower educational attainment may have genetic influences in common. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which genetics contributes to educational inequalities in adolescent and young adult smoking. Common genetic liabilities may underlie cognitive skills associated with both smoking and education, such as IQ and effortful control, in line with indirect health-related selection explanations. Additionally, by affecting cognitive skills, genes may predict educational trajectories and hereby adolescents{\textquoteright} social context, which may be associated with smoking, consistent with social causation explanations. Using data from the Dutch TRAILS Study (N = 1581), we estimated the extent to which polygenic scores (PGSs) for ever smoking regularly (PGSSMOK) and years of education (PGSEDU) predict IQ and effortful control, measured around age 11, and whether these cognitive skills then act as shared predictors of smoking and educational level around age 16, 19, 22, and 26. Second, we assessed if educational level mediated associations between PGSs and smoking. Both PGSs were associated with lower effortful control, and PGSEDU also with lower IQ. Lower IQ and effortful control, in turn, predicted having a lower educational level. However, neither of these cognitive skills were directly associated with smoking behaviour after controlling for covariates and PGSs. This suggests that IQ and effortful control are not shared predictors of smoking and education (i.e., no indirect health-related selection related to cognitive skills). Instead, PGSSMOK and PGSEDU, partly through their associations with lower cognitive skills, predicted selection into a lower educational track, which in turn was associated with more smoking, in line with social causation explanations. Our findings suggest that educational differences in the social context contribute to associations between genetic liabilities and educational inequalities in smoking.",

keywords = "Adolescence, Cognitive skills, Educational level, Polygenic scores, Smoking, Young adulthood",

author = "Heiko Schmengler and Oldehinkel, {Albertine J.} and Wilma Vollebergh and Pasman, {Jo{\"e}lle A.} and C.A. Hartman and Gonneke Stevens and I.M. Nolte and Margot Peeters",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors",

year = "2023",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116254",

language = "English",

volume = "336",

journal = "Social Science & Medicine",

issn = "0277-9536",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Disentangling the interplay between genes, cognitive skills, and educational level in adolescent and young adult smoking – The TRAILS study

AU - Schmengler, Heiko

AU - Oldehinkel, Albertine J.

AU - Vollebergh, Wilma

AU - Pasman, Joëlle A.

AU - Hartman, C.A.

AU - Stevens, Gonneke

AU - Nolte, I.M.

AU - Peeters, Margot

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - Recent studies suggest that smoking and lower educational attainment may have genetic influences in common. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which genetics contributes to educational inequalities in adolescent and young adult smoking. Common genetic liabilities may underlie cognitive skills associated with both smoking and education, such as IQ and effortful control, in line with indirect health-related selection explanations. Additionally, by affecting cognitive skills, genes may predict educational trajectories and hereby adolescents’ social context, which may be associated with smoking, consistent with social causation explanations. Using data from the Dutch TRAILS Study (N = 1581), we estimated the extent to which polygenic scores (PGSs) for ever smoking regularly (PGSSMOK) and years of education (PGSEDU) predict IQ and effortful control, measured around age 11, and whether these cognitive skills then act as shared predictors of smoking and educational level around age 16, 19, 22, and 26. Second, we assessed if educational level mediated associations between PGSs and smoking. Both PGSs were associated with lower effortful control, and PGSEDU also with lower IQ. Lower IQ and effortful control, in turn, predicted having a lower educational level. However, neither of these cognitive skills were directly associated with smoking behaviour after controlling for covariates and PGSs. This suggests that IQ and effortful control are not shared predictors of smoking and education (i.e., no indirect health-related selection related to cognitive skills). Instead, PGSSMOK and PGSEDU, partly through their associations with lower cognitive skills, predicted selection into a lower educational track, which in turn was associated with more smoking, in line with social causation explanations. Our findings suggest that educational differences in the social context contribute to associations between genetic liabilities and educational inequalities in smoking.

AB - Recent studies suggest that smoking and lower educational attainment may have genetic influences in common. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which genetics contributes to educational inequalities in adolescent and young adult smoking. Common genetic liabilities may underlie cognitive skills associated with both smoking and education, such as IQ and effortful control, in line with indirect health-related selection explanations. Additionally, by affecting cognitive skills, genes may predict educational trajectories and hereby adolescents’ social context, which may be associated with smoking, consistent with social causation explanations. Using data from the Dutch TRAILS Study (N = 1581), we estimated the extent to which polygenic scores (PGSs) for ever smoking regularly (PGSSMOK) and years of education (PGSEDU) predict IQ and effortful control, measured around age 11, and whether these cognitive skills then act as shared predictors of smoking and educational level around age 16, 19, 22, and 26. Second, we assessed if educational level mediated associations between PGSs and smoking. Both PGSs were associated with lower effortful control, and PGSEDU also with lower IQ. Lower IQ and effortful control, in turn, predicted having a lower educational level. However, neither of these cognitive skills were directly associated with smoking behaviour after controlling for covariates and PGSs. This suggests that IQ and effortful control are not shared predictors of smoking and education (i.e., no indirect health-related selection related to cognitive skills). Instead, PGSSMOK and PGSEDU, partly through their associations with lower cognitive skills, predicted selection into a lower educational track, which in turn was associated with more smoking, in line with social causation explanations. Our findings suggest that educational differences in the social context contribute to associations between genetic liabilities and educational inequalities in smoking.

KW - Adolescence

KW - Cognitive skills

KW - Educational level

KW - Polygenic scores

KW - Smoking

KW - Young adulthood

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172322004&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116254

DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116254

M3 - Article

C2 - 37751630

SN - 0277-9536

VL - 336

JO - Social Science & Medicine

JF - Social Science & Medicine

M1 - 116254

ER -

Disentangling the interplay between genes, cognitive skills, and educational level in adolescent and young adult smoking – The TRAILS study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this