Parent-offspring resemblance for educational attainment reduces with increased social class in a global sample: evidence for the compensatory advantage hypothesis.

The degree to which (self-reported) social class predicts parent-offspring resemblance for educational attainment (EA) is examined in a globally representative dataset of 69,116 individuals sourced from 56 countries. A hierarchical general linear model is used to predict participant EA with the two-way interaction between class and parental EA, after controlling for regional effects, the main effects of age, class, parental EA, and interactions among these. Social class-by-parental EA interaction These findings are consistent with the compensatory advantage hypothesis, which predicts decreased heritability of EA and related phenotypes among affluent families, as increased access to educational resources should enhance opportunities for cognitive growth in a way that compensates for intrinsic disadvantages.

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Copyright © 2024 Woodley of Menie, Sarraf, Peñaherrera-Aguirre and Rindermann.

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The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.