Twins Early Development Study: A Genetically Sensitive Investigation into Behavioral and Cognitive Development from Infancy to Emerging Adulthood

Rimfeld, Kaili; Malanchini, Margherita; Spargo, Thomas P; Spickernell, Gemma; Selzam, Saskia; McMillan, Andrew; Dale, Philip S.; Eley, Thalia C.; Plomin, Robert

doi:10.1017/thg.2019.56

Cited by 131 publications

(180 citation statements)

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“…The present sample is drawn from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), a longitudinal twin study that recruited more than 10,000 twin pairs born in England and Wales in 1994 through 1996. The recruitment process and the sample are described in detail elsewhere (Rimfeld et al, ). The TEDS sample was at its inception representative of the UK population in comparison with census data and remains considerably representative, despite some attrition (Rimfeld et al, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

Stumm

Smith‐Woolley

Ayorech

et al. 2019

Developmental Science

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104

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The two best predictors of children's educational achievement available from birth are parents’ socioeconomic status (SES) and, recently, children's inherited DNA differences that can be aggregated in genome‐wide polygenic scores (GPS). Here, we chart for the first time the developmental interplay between these two predictors of educational achievement at ages 7, 11, 14 and 16 in a sample of almost 5,000 UK school children. We show that the prediction of educational achievement from both GPS and SES increases steadily throughout the school years. Using latent growth curve models, we find that GPS and SES not only predict educational achievement in the first grade but they also account for systematic changes in achievement across the school years. At the end of compulsory education at age 16, GPS and SES, respectively, predict 14% and 23% of the variance of educational achievement. Analyses of the extremes of GPS and SES highlight their influence and interplay: In children who have high GPS and come from high SES families, 77% go to university, whereas 21% of children with low GPS and from low SES backgrounds attend university. We find that the associations of GPS and SES with educational achievement are primarily additive, suggesting that their joint influence is particularly dramatic for children at the extreme ends of the distribution.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

Stumm

Smith‐Woolley

Ayorech

et al. 2019

Developmental Science

Self Cite

104

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“…24 The analyses in the TEDS cohort are within the permissions received from the Kings College London Ethics Committee (reference: PNM/09/10-104). 32 Parental consent was obtained for all the TEDS participants before data collection. All the participants in the MVP cohort have given written informed consent at the time of recruitment.…”

Section: Ethical Approvalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The school grades in the TEDS cohort were from the GCSE exams given at the end of compulsory schooling in UK. 32,33 The grades were available in three compulsory subjects namely English, mathematics and science. Unlike iPSYCH data, under each subject only one grade was available.…”

Section: School Grades In the Teds Cohortmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A validation of the self-reported school grades in TEDS has been performed previously by correlating with the grades extracted from national pupil database (NPD) (https://data.gov.uk/dataset/9e0a13ef-64c4-4541-a97a-f87cc4032210/nationalpupil-database) for a subset of the individuals, which showed that the self-reported grades correlated highly (>0.95) with NPD grades. 32 The GCSE grades ranged between four (G; lowest grade) to 11 (A+; highest grade), with four being the lowest pass grade.…”

Section: School Grades In the Teds Cohortmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Source of DNA for genotyping in the TEDS cohort was saliva collected at the time of recruitment. 32 The DNA extracted from the saliva was genotyped using either Illumina HumanOmniExpressExome chip or Affymetrix Gene Chip 6.0. Following standard QC procedures, the genotyped markers are phased using EAGLE-2, 59 followed by imputation using MACH 60 with Haplotype reference consortium 61 (release 1.1) as the reference panel.…”

Section: Genotyping and Imputation In The Teds Cohortmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genome-wide association study of school grades identifies a genetic overlap between language ability, psychopathology and creativity

Rajagopal

Ganna

Coleman

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Individuals with psychiatric disorders perform differently in school compared to the general population. Genetic factors contribute substantially to such differences. It is however unclear if differential performance is seen across all cognitive domains such as math and language. Here we report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of school grades in 30,982 individuals (18,495 with and 12,487 without one or more of six major psychiatric disorders) and a replication study in 4,547 individuals. GWAS of overall school performance yielded results that were highly similar to the results of a previous GWAS of educational attainment. Analyzing subject specific grades, we observed that math performance was severely affected whereas language performance (Danish and English) was relatively unaffected or enhanced in those with psychiatric disorders compared to controls. We found that the genetic variants associated with poor math performance, but better language performance were also associated with increased risk for multiple psychiatric disorders. The same variants were also associated with creativity, which we show through a polygenic score analysis of 2953 creative professionals and 164,622 controls. The results overall suggest that risk for psychiatric disorders, language ability and creativity might have overlapping genetic roots.

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Heritability of Psychotic Experiences in Adolescents and Interaction With Environmental Risk

et al. 2022

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IMPORTANCE Genetic risk factors are known to play a role in the etiology of psychotic experiences in the general population. Little is known about whether these risk factors interact with environmental risks for psychotic experiences.OBJECTIVE To assess etiological heterogeneity and exposure to environmental risks associated with psychotic experiences in adolescence using the twin design. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis twin study, conducted from December 1, 2014, to August 31, 2020, included a UK-based sample of twin pairs aged 16 years. This investigation evaluated the extent to which the genetic variance underlying psychotic experiences and the magnitude of the heritability of psychotic experiences was moderated by exposure to 5 environmental risk factors (bullying, dependent life events, cannabis use, tobacco use, and low birth weight). Psychotic experiences were assessed by 5 self-reported measures and 1 parent-reported measure. Participants' exposure to environmental risks was assessed at birth and age 12 to 16 years. Structural equation models were used to assess differences in the variance in and heritability of psychotic experiences across these exposures, while controlling for gene-environment correlation effects. Analyses were repeated in an independent Swedish sample. Data analyses were performed from September 1, 2018, to August 31, 2020.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Primary outcome measures were exposure to environmental factors, as measured by a composite score, and psychotic experiences.RESULTS A total of 4855 twin pairs (1926 female same-sex pairs, 1397 male same-sex pairs, and 1532 opposite-sex pairs) were included from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), and 6435 twin pairs (2358 female same-sex pairs, 1861 male same-sex pairs, and 2216 opposite-sex pairs) were included from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS). Mean age of twins from TEDS was 16.5 years. Mean age of twins from CATSS was 18.6 years. More exposure to environmental risk factors was associated with having more psychotic experiences. The relative contribution of genetic influences to psychotic experiences was lower with increasing environmental exposure for paranoia (44%; 95% CI, 33%-53% to 38%; 95% CI, 14%-58%), cognitive disorganization (47%; 95% CI, 38%-51% to 32%; 95% CI, 11%-45%), grandiosity (41%; 95% CI, 29%-52% to 32%; 95% CI, 9%-48%), and anhedonia (49%; 95% CI, 42%-53% to 37%; 95% CI, 15%-54%). This pattern was replicated for the measure of psychotic experiences in the independent Swedish replication sample. The heritability of hallucinations and parent-rated negative symptoms remained relatively constant.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Findings of this twin study suggest that environmental factors play a greater role in the etiology of psychotic experiences than genetic factors. The relative importance of environmental factors is even higher among individuals exposed to environmental risks for psychotic experiences, highlighting the importance of a diathesis-stress or bioecological framework for under...

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Twins Early Development Study: A Genetically Sensitive Investigation into Behavioral and Cognitive Development from Infancy to Emerging Adulthood

Cited by 131 publications

References 44 publications

Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

Genome-wide association study of school grades identifies a genetic overlap between language ability, psychopathology and creativity

Heritability of Psychotic Experiences in Adolescents and Interaction With Environmental Risk

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