Sibling Correlation in Educational Attainment: A Test of Genetic Nurture

The educational attainment of siblings is highly correlated. We test for a specific type of peer effect between siblings in educational attainment: genetic nurture. Specifically, we test whether a person’s educational attainment is correlated with their sibling’s polygenic score (PGS) for educational attainment, controlling for their own PGS for educational attainment. Models estimated using genetic data in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) yield strong evidence of such genetic nurture between siblings, and this result is robust to alternative measures of educational attainment and different measures of polygenic score.