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Narrative reports suggest that socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with biogeographic ancestry (BGA) in the Americas. If so, SES potentially acts as a confound that needs to be taken into account when evaluating the relation between medical outcomes and BGA. To explore how systematic BGA-SES associations are, a meta-analysis of American studie...
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Narrative reports suggest that socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with biogeographic ancestry (BGA) in the Americas. If so, SES potentially acts as a confound that needs to be taken into account when evaluating the relation between medical outcomes and BGA. To explore how systematic BGA-SES associations are, a meta-analysis of American studie...
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... Witty and Jenkins' analysis, in contrast, suffered from failing to compare the ancestry of the selected group to the ancestry of the group from which it was selected. Instead, their comparison sample was a completely different and, moreover, socioeconomically selected one (Mackenzie, 1984), a point which is highly relevant since socioeconomic status positively correlated with European ancestry in admixed American groups (Kirkegaard, Wang & Fuerst, 2017). Had the authors made the correct comparison, they likely would have found results similar to the current ones. ...
This report examines the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 data. Self-reported European ancestry among Black Americans is found to have a positive yet moderate correlation with cognitive ability. Of the 2935 screener-identified African Americans, 53 had self-reported ancestry from a specific European ethnicity. This group had an advantage of .41d over African Americans who did not report any European ancestry. Consistent with previous results, the effect of European ancestry exhibited a positive correlation with subtest g-loadings. The findings were corroborated by results from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which used genetically assessed ancestry. In both cases, African Americans with more European ancestry were overrepresented, by a factor of two, in the right tail of the cognitive distribution. Key Words: Ancestry, Cognitive ability, Race, African-American, USA
... We first report the bivariate correlations. These allow comparison with effects sizes for the association between ancestry and SES reported previously (e.g., Kirkegaard, Wang, & Fuerst, 2017). Table 4 shows the correlations for Hispanics. ...
... The correlation between European ancestry and parental education in this sample was also higher than that reported for European ancestry and socioeconomic status among Puerto Ricans (r = .16, K = 3, N = 1,943; Kirkegaard, Wang, & Fuerst, 2017). ...
... K = 15, N = 15,980.50; Kirkegaard, Wang, and Fuerst, 2017) previously reported for multi-ethnic and/or unspecified North and Latin American samples. This may again be due to this sample's higher variability in ancestry. ...
Peer-reviewed but not editor-approved on account of controversial research.
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Polygenic scores for educational attainment and intelligence (eduPGS), genetic ancestry, and cognitive ability have been found to be inter-correlated in some admixed American populations. We argue that this could either be due to causally-relevant genetic differences between ancestral groups or be due to population stratification-related confounding. Moreover, we argue that it is important to determine which scenario is the case so to better assess the validity of eduPGS. We investigate the confounding vs. causal concern by examining, in detail, the relation between eduPGS, ancestry, and general cognitive ability in East Coast Hispanic and non-Hispanic samples. European ancestry was correlated with g in the admixed Hispanic (r = .30, N = 506), European-African (r = .26, N = 228), and African (r = .084, N = 2,179) American samples. Among Hispanics and the combined sample, these associations were robust to controls for racial/ethnic self-identification, genetically predicted color, and parental education. Additionally, eduPGS predicted g among Hispanics (B = 0.175, N = 506) and all other groups (European: B = 0.230, N = 4914; European-African: B = 0.215, N = 228; African: B = 0.126, N = 2179) with controls for ancestry. Path analyses revealed that eduPGS, but not color, partially statistically explained the association between g and European ancestry among both Hispanics and the combined sample. Of additional note, we were unable to account for eduPGS differences between ancestral populations using common tests for ascertainment bias and confounding related to population stratification. Overall, our results suggest that eduPGS derived from European samples can be used to predict g in American populations. However, owing to the uncertain cause of the differences in eduPGS, it is not yet clear how the effect of ancestry should be handled. We argue that more research is needed to determine the source of the relation between eduPGS, genetic ancestry, and cognitive ability.
... Even though BGA's association with SES and CA has begun being studied relatively recently, admixture analyses have already generated some robust findings in this regard. Specifically, European BGA correlates positively, while both African and Amerindian BGA correlate negatively with CA and SES Kirkegaard, Wang & Fuerst, 2017;Kirkegaard et al., 2019); these correlations are found in both national and subnational comparisons . A recent study (Lasker et al., 2019) has also found a strong, significant association (r = .411) ...
That human ancestry predicts average IQ and socioeconomic outcomes is amongst the most thoroughly replicated findings of the social sciences. Since human ethnic and cultural descent is usually represented on national flags, it was hypothesized herein that national flag symbolism and colors would be predictive of a nation's average IQ and socioeconomic development. In order to test this hypothesis, national flag symbols and colors were coded, quantified, and correlated with country IQ and Human Development Index (HDI). Both country-level IQ and HDI are positively associated with Christian symbolism, and negatively associated with symbols representing celestial bodies. The color green predicts lower IQ and HDI, while the color white predicts higher IQ and HDI. The color red predicts higher IQ, but not higher HDI, and the color yellow predicts lower HDI, but not lower IQ. The correlations are generally higher for HDI than IQ. With the exception of the color yellow, the correlations with HDI are significant even when controlling for the correlation between HDI and IQ. The present study suggests national flag symbolism and colors as yet another correlate of average group intelligence.
... Even though BGA's association with SES and CA has begun being studied relatively recently, admixture analyses have already generated some robust findings in this regard. Specifically, European BGA correlates positively, while both African and Amerindian BGA correlate negatively with CA and SES Kirkegaard, Wang & Fuerst, 2017;Kirkegaard et al., 2019); these correlations are found in both national and subnational comparisons . A recent study (Lasker et al., 2019) has also found a strong, significant association (r = .411) ...
That human ancestry predicts average IQ and socioeconomic outcomes is amongst the most thoroughly replicated findings of the social sciences. Since human ethnic and cultural descent is usually represented on national flags, it was hypothesized herein that national flag symbolism and colors would be predictive of a nation's average IQ and socioeconomic development. In order to test this hypothesis, national flag symbols and colors were coded, quantified, and correlated with country IQ and Human Development Index (HDI). Both country-level IQ and HDI are positively associated with Christian symbolism, and negatively associated with symbols representing celestial bodies. The color green predicts lower IQ and HDI, while the color white predicts higher IQ and HDI. The color red predicts higher IQ, but not higher HDI, and the color yellow predicts lower HDI, but not lower IQ. The correlations are generally higher for HDI than IQ. With the exception of the color yellow, the correlations with HDI are significant even when controlling for the correlation between HDI and IQ. The present study suggests national flag symbolism and colors as yet another correlate of average group intelligence.
... Among admixed African-European American descent groups, European genetic ancestry is associated with higher socioeconomic status (SES) and generally better social outcomes (Kirkegaard, Wang, and Fuerst, 2017) [1]. So too are skin color (or brightness) and other phenotypic indices of European ancestry (Hunter, 2007) [2]. ...
Little research has dealt with intragroup ancestry-related differences in intelligence in Black and White Americans. To help fill this gap, we examined the association between intelligence and both color and parent-reported ancestry using the NLSY97. We used a nationally-representative sample, a multidimensional measure of cognitive ability, and a sibling design. We found that African ancestry was negatively correlated with general mental ability scores among Whites (r = −0.038, N = 3603; corrected for attenuation, rc = −0.245). In contrast, the correlation between ability and parent-reported European ancestry was positive among Blacks (r = 0.137, N = 1788; rc = 0.344). Among Blacks, the correlation with darker skin color, an index of African ancestry, was negative (r = −0.112, N = 1455). These results remained with conspicuous controls. Among Blacks, both color and parent-reported European ancestry had independent effects on general cognitive ability (color: β = −0.104; ancestry: β = 0.118; N = 1445). These associations were more pronounced on g-loaded subtests, indicating a Jensen Effect for both color and ancestry (rs = 0.679 to 0.850). When we decomposed the color results for the African ancestry sample between and within families, we found an association between families, between singletons (β = −0.153; N = 814), and between full sibling pairs (β = −0.176; N = 225). However, we found no association between full siblings (β = 0.027; N = 225). Differential regression to the mean results indicated that the factors causing the mean group difference acted across the cognitive spectrum, with high-scoring African Americans no less affected than low-scoring ones. We tested for measurement invariance and found that strict factorial invariance was tenable. We then found that the weak version of Spearman’s hypothesis was tenable while the strong and contra versions were not. The results imply that the observed cognitive differences are primarily due to differences in g and that the Black-White mean difference is attributable to the same factors that cause differences within both groups. Further examination revealed comparable intraclass correlations and absolute differences for Black and White full siblings. This implied that the non-shared environmental variance components were similar in magnitude for both Blacks and Whites.
... Given the results, the most parsimonious explanation is that European genetic ancestry correlates with cognitive ability among self-identifying African Americans, as found by Kirkegaard et al. (2019) [28]. This interpretation is consistent with a large number of-though not all-older studies [6] and with studies on the relation between genetic ancestry and individual SES [8]. It is also consistent with the finding that regional genetic ancestry predicts regional cognitive and SES outcomes across the Americas [31][32][33]. ...
The relationship between biracial status, color, and crystallized intelligence was examined in a nationally representative sample of adult Black and White Americans. First, it was found that self-identifying biracial individuals, who were found to be intermediate in color and in self-reported ancestry, had intermediate levels of crystallized intelligence relative to self-identifying White (mostly European ancestry) and Black (mostly sub-Saharan African ancestry) Americans. The results were transformed to an IQ scale: White (M = 100.00, N = 7569), primarily White–biracial (M = 96.07, N = 43, primarily Black–biracial (M = 94.14 N = 50), and Black (M = 89.81, N = 1381). Next, among self-identifying African Americans, a statistically significant negative correlation of r = −0.102 (N = 637) was found between interviewer-rated darker facial color and vocabulary scores. After correction for the reliability of the measures, this correlation increased to r = −0.21. Corrections for the validity of color as an index of African ancestry would raise this correlation to around r = −0.48. This association among self-identifying African Americans was not accounted for by confounding factors, such as region of residence and interviewer race, or by parental socioeconomic status and individual educational attainment. In the multivariate models, the standardized betas for color and crystallized intelligence among African Americans ranged from β = −0.112 to β = −0.142. Based on the coefficients from the multivariate analysis, it was further found that cognitive ability was a significant mediator in the context of color and education, while education was not in the context of color and cognitive ability. It is concluded that these results further substantiate the statistical relation between intelligence and biogeographic ancestry in African and European American populations.
... Given the results, the most parsimonious explanation is that European genetic ancestry correlates with cognitive ability among self-identifying African Americans, as found by Kirkegaard et al. (2019) [28]. This interpretation is consistent with a large number of-though not all-older studies [6] and with studies on the relation between genetic ancestry and individual SES [8]. It is also consistent with the finding that regional genetic ancestry predicts regional cognitive and SES outcomes across the Americas [31][32][33]. ...
The relationship between biracial status, color, and crystallized intelligence was examined in a nationally representative sample of adult Black and White Americans. First, it was found that self-identifying biracial individuals, who were found to be intermediate in color and in self-reported ancestry, had intermediate levels of crystallized intelligence relative to self-identifying White (mostly European ancestry) and Black (mostly sub-Saharan African ancestry) Americans. The results were transformed to an IQ scale: White (M = 100.00, N = 7569), primarily White–biracial (M = 96.07, N = 43, primarily Black–biracial (M = 94.14 N = 50), and Black (M = 89.81, N = 1381). Next, among self-identifying African Americans, a statistically significant negative correlation of r = −0.102 (N = 637) was found between interviewer-rated darker facial color and vocabulary scores. After correction for the reliability of the measures, this correlation increased to r = −0.21. Corrections for the validity of color as an index of African ancestry would raise this correlation to around r = −0.48. This association among self-identifying African Americans was not accounted for by confounding factors, such as region of residence and interviewer race, or by parental socioeconomic status and individual educational attainment. In the multivariate models, the standardized betas for color and crystallized intelligence among African Americans ranged from β = −0.112 to β = −0.142. Based on the coefficients from the multivariate analysis, it was further found that cognitive ability was a significant mediator in the context of color and education, while education was not in the context of color and cognitive ability. It is concluded that these results further substantiate the statistical relation between intelligence and biogeographic ancestry in African and European American populations.
... A large meta-analysis of pan-American epidemiological studies found that European genetic ancestry was robustly associated with better socioeconomic outcomes relative to African and Amerindian ancestry in admixed populations (European: r = 0.18, k = 28, N = 35,476.5; [56]). Amerindian and African ancestry were related to poorer socioeconomic outcomes: r = −0.14, k = 31, N = 28,937.5 ...
... European ancestry had a moderate positive correlation with both cognitive ability and SES (r = 0.23 and 0.32, respectively), while negative relationships were seen for African (r = −0.33 and −0.30), Amerindian (r = −0.15 and −0.24), and Oceanian (r = −0.08 and −0.20) ancestries. The Genomic ancestry × SES correlations are larger than those previously reported by Kirkegaard et al. [56], presumably because this sample is not decomposed by SIRE group, leading to reduced restriction of range and thus higher correlations. The remaining ancestries had very small or inconsistent relationships. ...
... It is difficult to untangle these effects without detailed information about migrant status and specific population histories. That said, Kirkegaard et al. [56] showed that associations between SES and ancestry can be found across the Americas. It seems unlikely that Amerindian ancestry would be related to SES among native Mexicans, and that African ancestry would be related to SES among native Puerto Ricans, but that in the USA the associations within Latin-American-origin populations would only be due to migrant status confounding. ...
The cause(s) of ubiquitous cognitive differences between American self-identified racial/ethnic groups (SIREs) is uncertain. Evolutionary-genetic models posit that ancestral genetic selection pressures are the ultimate source of these differences. Conversely, sociological models posit that these differences result from racial discrimination. To examine predictions based on these models, we conducted a global admixture analysis using data from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics Study (PING; N = 1,369 American children). Specifically, we employed a standard methodology of genetic epidemiology to determine whether genetic ancestry significantly predicts cognitive ability, independent of SIRE. In regression models using four different codings for SIRE as a covariate, we found incremental relationships between genetic ancestry and both general cognitive ability and parental socioeconomic status (SES). The relationships between global ancestry and cognitive ability were partially attenuated when parental SES was added as a predictor and when cognitive ability was the outcome. Moreover, these associations generally held when subgroups were analyzed separately. Our results are congruent with evolutionary-genetic models of group differences and with certain environmental models that mimic the predictions of evolutionary-genetic ones. Implications for research on race/ethnic differences in the Americas are discussed, as are methods for further exploring the matter.
... Future research will have to sort out which ones were the most significant. While Putterman and Weil looked at the effect of national-level ancestry on outcomes both between and within countries, Kirkegaard (2016a, 2016b) and Kirkegaard, Wang and Fuerst (2017) examined the effect of continental biogeographic ancestry (BGA) in the Americas. Mirroring Putterman and Weil's results, the authors found that, at both the individual and regional levels, European BGA, relative to African and Amerindian, was a robust predictor of cognitive and/or socioeconomic outcomes (regional: mean correlations of .71 and .64, ...
... To determine this, one must have genomic ancestry data or use a between-sibling design (Dalliard, 2014). In general, the results are congruent with models that involve robust links between persons' ancestry and outcomes, and they are congruent with previous studies (Fuerst & Kirkegaard, 2016a, 2016bKirkegaard et al., 2017). ...
Analyses of the relationships between cognitive ability, socioeconomic outcomes, and European ancestry were carried out at multiple levels in Argentina: individual (max. n = 5,920), district (n = 437), municipal (n = 299), and provincial (n = 24). Socioeconomic outcomes correlated in expected ways such that there was a general socioeconomic factor (S factor). The structure of this factor replicated across four levels of analysis, with a mean congruence coefficient of .96. Cognitive ability and S were moderately to strongly correlated at the four levels of analyses: individual r=.55 (.44 before disattenuation), district r=.52, municipal r=.66, and provincial r=.88. European biogeographic ancestry (BGA) for the provinces was estimated from 25 genomics papers. These estimates were validated against European ancestry estimated from self-identified race/ethnicity (SIRE; r=.67) and interviewer-rated skin brightness (r=.33). On the provincial level, European BGA correlated strongly with scholastic achievement-based cognitive ability and composite S-factor scores (r's .48 and .54, respectively). These relationships were not due to confounding with latitude or mean temperature when analyzed in multivariate analyses. There were no BGA data for the other levels, so we relied on %White, skin brightness, and SIRE-based ancestry estimates instead, all of which were related to cognitive ability and S at all levels of analysis. At the individual level, skin brightness was related to both cognitive ability and S. Regression analyses showed that SIRE had little detectable predictive validity when skin brightness was included in models. Similarly, the correlations between skin brightness, cognitive ability, and S were also found inside SIRE groups. The results were similar when analyzed within provinces. In general, results were congruent with a familial model of individual and regional outcome differences.
... However, a large meta-analysis of genomic ancestry and socioeconomic outcomes 14 in American countries found that European ancestry was robustly associated with better outcomes (r = .18, k = 27, total n = 34k; (Kirkegaard, Wang, & Fuerst, 2017)). Reversely, Amerindian and African ancestry were related to worse outcomes (r's of -.15 and -.11, respectively 15 ). ...
In the United States, cognitive ability, socioeconomic status (SES), and genetic ancestry vary by race/ethnic identification. However, it is not known to what degree genetic ancestry is a useful predictor of outcomes independent of those cultural factors related to race/ethnic identification. Data from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics Study (PING) (N = 1,369 children) were used to examine this issue. In regression models using 4 different codings for SIRE as a covariate, non-trivial incremental relationships were found between genetic ancestry and both cognitive ability and SES. These relationships were reduced somewhat when parental SES was added as a predictor with cognitive ability as the outcome. These associations generally held when subgroups were analyzed separately. Results were congruent with familial models of group differences. Implications for research on race/ethnic differences in the Americas are discussed.
