PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Benjamin W. Domingue
AU  - David H. Rehkopf
AU  - Dalton Conley
AU  - Jason D. Boardman
TI  - Geographic Clustering of Polygenic Scores at Different Stages of the Life Course
AID  - 10.7758/RSF.2018.4.4.08
DP  - 2018 Apr 01
TA  - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
PG  - 137--149
VI  - 4
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/4/137.short
4100  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/4/137.full
AB  - We interrogate state-level clustering of polygenic scores at different points in the life course and variation in the association of mean polygenic scores in a respondent’s state of birth with corresponding phenotypes. The polygenic scores for height and smoking show the most state-level clustering (2 to 4 percent) with relatively little clustering observed for the other scores. However, even the small amounts of observed clustering are potentially meaningful. The state-mean polygenic score for educational attainment is strongly associated with an individual’s educational attainment net of that person’s polygenic score. The ecological clustering of polygenic scores may denote a new environmental factor in gene-environment research. We conclude by discussing possible mechanisms that underlie this association and the implications of our findings for social and genetic research.