The Role of Gender in Gene by Family SES Interactions – A Twin Study Across Four European Countries

Studies on gene-by-family SES interaction (GxSES) in educational outcomes have produced mixed
results. This study builds on a sociocontextual perspective, emphasizing that genetic influences are
shaped by broader social forces besides family, including gender and institutional context. For
example, some of the previous sociogenetic studies indicate that particularly early school tracking
suppresses the genetic influences. We analyzed gene-by-environment interactions (GxE) by parental
education and children's gender using large twin registers from Finland, Norway, Germany, and the
Netherlands employing non-parametric gene-environment interaction models. Our results indicated
that genetic influences in Germany were weaker and shared environmental effects stronger than in
other countries. We did not find significant gender differences in genetic or environmental effects on
educational attainment in the studied countries. Analyses of GxSES revealed that the interactions
depend on gender and country context. For example, in some countries, we observed negative
interaction among women, with the genetic effect being weaker among children from high-SES
families. Among men, the results indicate that GxSES can have either a positive or a negative
direction. We conclude that the institutional context and gender can shape gene-environment
interactions related to educational attainment.