Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T19:48:19.830Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Educational attainment and social class in adoptees: genetic and environmental contributions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

T. W. Teasdale  and
T. I. A. Sørensen
T. W. Teasdale
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Copenhagen City Hospital, and Department of Psychology, University of Lund, Sweden
T. I. A. Sørensen
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Copenhagen City Hospital, Denmark
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The number of years of schooling and adult social class of 1417 adoptees are found to correlate with the social class of both their biological and adoptive fathers. For female adoptees the effect of both paternal social class values upon own social class appears to be mediated through the influence of the former upon years of schooling. For male adoptees, some residual direct correlations of paternal social class with offspring's social class, independent of years of schooling in the adoptee, are observed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 1983 , pp. 509 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Behrman, J., Taubman, P. & Wales, T. (1977) Controlling for and measuring the effects of genetic and family environment in equations for schooling and labor market success. In: Kinometrics: Determinants of Socioeconomic Success Within and Between Families, p. 35. Edited by Taubman, P.. North Holland, New York.Google Scholar
Duncan, O. D. (1966) Path analysis: sociological examples. Am. J. Sociol 72, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, H.J. & Kamin, L. (1981) Intelligence: The Battle for The Mind. Macmillan, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberger, A.S. (1977) Twin methods: a sceptical view. In: Kinometrics: Determinants of Socioeconomic Success Within and Between Families, p. 229. Edited by Taubman, P.. North Holland, New York.Google Scholar
Herrnstein, R.J. (1973) IQ in The Meritocracy. Atlantic Monthly Press, Boston.Google Scholar
Ho, H., Plomin, R. & DeFries, J.C. (1979) Selective placement in adoption. Social Biol. 26, 1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jencks, C. (1972) Inequality. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Kety, S.S., Rosenthal, D., Wender, P.H. & Schulsinger, F. (1968) The types and prevalence of mental illness in the biological and adoptive families of adopted schizophrenics. Am. J. Psychiat. 128, 302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. & Kohout, F.J. (1975) Special topics in general linear models. In: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, p. 368. Edited by Nie, N. H., Hull, C. Hadlai, Jenkins, J. G., Steinbrenner, K. and D.H., Bent. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Loehlin, J.C. (1980) Recent adoption studies of IQ. Hum. Genet. 55, 297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munsinger, H. (1975) The adopted child's IQ: a critical review. Psychol. Bull. 82, 623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sewell, W.H. & Hauser, R.M. (1975) Education, Occupation and Earnings. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Stunkard, A. J., Sørensen, T.I.A. & Schulsinger, F. (1983) Use of the Danish adoption register for the study of obesity and thinness. In: The Genetics of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders, Edited by Kety, S. S.. Raven Press, New York.Google Scholar
Svalastoga, K. (1959) Prestige, Class, and Mobility. Gyldendal, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Teasdale, T.W. (1979) Social class correlations among adoptees and their biological and adoptive parents. Behav. Genet. 9, 103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teasdale, T.W. & Owen, D.R. (1981) Social class correlations among separately adopted siblings and unrelated individuals adopted together. Behav. Genet. 11, 577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed