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Interactions Between Socioeconomic Status and Components of Variation in Cognitive Ability

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Book cover Behavior Genetics of Cognition Across the Lifespan

Part of the book series: Advances in Behavior Genetics ((AIBG,volume 1))

Abstract

We have proposed that differences in the heritability of cognitive ability as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) be called the Scarr-Rowe interaction, after the investigator who first reported it (Scarr) and the investigator who provided a crucial replication (Rowe). In 2003, a replication by Turkheimer et al. (Psychol Sci 14:623–628, 2003) sparked renewed interest in the subject. Since then, there have been a large number of attempts at replication using a diversity of cultures, ages, and measures of cognitive ability. We review recent studies, and delve more deeply into the nature of the phenomenon itself. Differences in heritability coefficients are necessarily the result of differences in identical (MZ) and fraternal (DZ) twin correlations, which are in turn ratios of variances between and within twin pairs. We review the existing literature with this in mind, reanalyzing the results where possible to examine how between- and within-pair variances change with differences in SES. We also include recent attempts to replicate the interaction using molecular genetic data rather than family relationships. We conclude that with two exceptions, the Scarr-Rowe interaction has replicated in American samples, in both family and molecular genetic studies. The interaction has fared less well in Europe, where more equal access to educational and other economic resources, which are crucial to observing differences in heritability, may limit the severity of poverty, although early reports that the phenomenon was not found in the large British Twins’ Early Development Study (TEDS) sample have been tempered by more recent positive results. Finally, we offer a proposal for the possible mechanism of the effect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, PO Box 400400, 22904-4400, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Prof. Eric Turkheimer Ph.D. & Prof. Erin E. Horn M.A.

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  1. Prof. Eric Turkheimer Ph.D.
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  2. Prof. Erin E. Horn M.A.
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Correspondence to Eric Turkheimer Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences, Indiana University Southeast, Grant Line Road 4201, New Albany, 47150, Indiana, USA

    Deborah Finkel

  2. University of California at Riverside, Riverside, 92521, California, USA

    Chandra A. Reynolds

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Turkheimer, E., Horn, E. (2014). Interactions Between Socioeconomic Status and Components of Variation in Cognitive Ability. In: Finkel, D., Reynolds, C. (eds) Behavior Genetics of Cognition Across the Lifespan. Advances in Behavior Genetics, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7447-0_2

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