Social genetic effects reflect pathways through which individual differences may be transmitted from parents to offspring. We examined which socio-environmental processes influence the associations between parental education polygenic score and offspring educational attainment by adding parental educational attainment and income to the models. Consistent with our hypothesis and previous findings (Bates et al., 2018; 2019), parental educational attainment and income mediated the effect of parental education polygenic score on offspring educational attainment. This finding is also consistent with prior research that education polygenic score is associated with not only educational attainment but also socioeconomic status more broadly (Belsky et al., 2016). That parental educational attainment and income were associated with offspring educational attainment above and beyond the effects of parental and offspring education polygenic scores suggests that these associations partly reflect social influences. Family SES such as educational attainment and income are associated with better home environments that may promote offspring educational attainment (Davis-Kean, 2005).
