The role of the ‘word gap’ for the intergenerational transmission of education: A genetically sensitive study Article Swipe
YOU?
·
· 2025
· Open Access
·
· DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6ec5r_v1
Children experience large differences in language learning opportunities during the early years. These differences include their mothers’ vocabulary sophistication, which may serve as a pathway for the transmission of educational attainment across generations. However, associations between vocabulary sophistication and education may be confounded by genetic factors that mothers and children share. In the E-Risk study—a longitudinal, nationally representative cohort of 1,116 British families, mothers’ naturalistic speech was recorded when their children when they were 5 years old. From the transcripts of these recordings, we derived mothers’ vocabulary sophistication. Mothers’ educational attainment at children’s age 5 years significantly predicted children’s educational attainment at age 18 years (β = .33, 95% CI [.280, .371]), and 16% of this association could be attributed to mothers’ vocabulary sophistication. Using path models with polygenic scores, we discerned genetic transmission effects (i.e., shared genetics) from environmentally mediated influences. We found that mothers’ vocabulary sophistication accounted for approximately 2% of the environmentally mediated influence on children’s educational attainment. The findings support that the ‘word gap’—differences in children’s language learning opportunities—likely plays a small causal role in the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment. Our results highlight the importance of early language environments and may inform strategies aimed at reducing the impact of family background on educational inequality.
Related Topics
- Type
- preprint
- Language
- en
- Landing Page
- https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6ec5r_v1
- https://osf.io/6ec5r_v1/download
- OA Status
- gold
- Related Works
- 10
- OpenAlex ID
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Raw OpenAlex JSON
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https://openalex.org/W4412046589Canonical identifier for this work in OpenAlex
- DOI
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https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6ec5r_v1Digital Object Identifier
- Title
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The role of the ‘word gap’ for the intergenerational transmission of education: A genetically sensitive studyWork title
- Type
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preprintOpenAlex work type
- Language
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enPrimary language
- Publication year
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2025Year of publication
- Publication date
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2025-07-05Full publication date if available
- Authors
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Sophie von Stumm, Louise Arseneault, Avshalom Caspi, Helen L. Fisher, Terrie E. Moffitt, Karen Sugden, Jasmin Wertz, Alexandra Starr, Anna BrownList of authors in order
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https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6ec5r_v1Publisher landing page
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https://osf.io/6ec5r_v1/downloadDirect link to full text PDF
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YesWhether a free full text is available
- OA status
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goldOpen access status per OpenAlex
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https://osf.io/6ec5r_v1/downloadDirect OA link when available
- Concepts
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Inequality, Word (group theory), Genetically modified organism, Sociology, Psychology, Linguistics, Biology, Mathematics, Genetics, Philosophy, Gene, Mathematical analysisTop concepts (fields/topics) attached by OpenAlex
- Cited by
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0Total citation count in OpenAlex
- Related works (count)
-
10Other works algorithmically related by OpenAlex
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| abstract_inverted_index.sophistication. | 87, 123 |
| abstract_inverted_index.intergenerational | 180 |
| abstract_inverted_index.gap’—differences | 167 |
| abstract_inverted_index.opportunities—likely | 172 |
| cited_by_percentile_year | |
| countries_distinct_count | 1 |
| institutions_distinct_count | 9 |
| citation_normalized_percentile.value | 0.35596226 |
| citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_1_percent | False |
| citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_10_percent | True |