ArticleNature human behaviour2018
Genetic influence on social outcomes during and after the Soviet era in Estonia.
Article in Nature human behaviour, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 123 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analysis of genetic effects associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and co-occurring conditions.Nature human behaviour · 2023Pooled it
- Differential Relations of Parental Behavior to Children's Early Executive Function as a Function of Child Genotype: A Systematic Review.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2022Pooled it
- Design and model choices shape inference of age-varying genetic effects on complex traits.Nature aging · 2026Article
- Beyond years of schooling: Genetic associations across educational milestones in two Norwegian cohorts.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- The Sociogenomics of Social Stratification and General Theories of Inequality.The British journal of sociology · 2026Article
- Changes in heritability and shared environmentality of educational attainment across twentieth-century Norway.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The Economics and Econometrics of Gene-Environment Interplay.The Review of economic studies · 2026Article
- An Updated Polygenic Index Repository: Expanded Phenotypes, New Cohorts, and Improved Causal Inference.Research square · 2025Article
- Deciphering the influence of socioeconomic status on brain structure: insights from Mendelian randomization.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- An Updated Polygenic Index Repository: Expanded Phenotypes, New Cohorts, and Improved Causal Inference.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Child Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-cohort Comparison and a Multi-informant Genetic Study.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- Polygenic Associations With Educational Attainment in East Versus West Germany: Differences Emerge After Reunification.Psychological science · 2025Article
- Raising the Floor? Genetic Influences on Educational Attainment Through the Lens of the Evolving Swedish Welfare State.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- Associations between common genetic variants and income provide insights about the socio-economic health gradient.Nature human behaviour · 2025Article
- The Moderating Influence of School Achievement on Intelligence: A Cross-National Comparison.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- Using the phenotype differences model to identify genetic effects in samples of partially genotyped sibling pairs.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Intergenerational transmission of health inequalities: towards a life course approach to socioeconomic inequalities in health - a review.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2024Review
- Vertical pleiotropy explains the heritability of social science traits.The Behavioral and brain sciences · 2023Article
- Overemphasizing individual differences and overlooking systemic factors reinforces educational inequality.NPJ science of learning · 2023Article
- Polygenic Risk for Schizophrenia, Major Depression, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Hippocampal Subregion Volumes in Middle Childhood.Behavior genetics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The etiology of individual differences in educational attainment and occupational status includes genetic as well as environmental factors1-5 and can change as societies change3,6,7. The extent of genetic influence on these social outcomes can be viewed as an index of success in achieving meritocratic values of equality of opportunity by rewarding talent and hard work, which are to a large extent influenced by genetic factors, rather than rewarding environmentally driven privilege. To the extent that the end of the Soviet Union and the independence of Estonia led to an increase in meritocratic selection of individuals in education and occupation, genetic influence should be higher in the post-Soviet era than in the Soviet era. Here we confirmed this hypothesis: DNA differences (single-nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) explained twice as much variance in educational attainment and occupational status in the post-Soviet era compared to the Soviet era in both polygenic score analyses and SNP heritability analyses of 12 500 Estonians. This is the first demonstration of a change in the extent of genetic influence in the same population following a massive and abrupt social change - in this case, the shift from a communist to a capitalist society.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.