Trends in inequality of opportunity
Changes in heritability of education over time in The Netherlands
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8131468 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marjolijn Das (0000-0002-3824-1120, Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek , Den Haag 2490 HA ,, corresponding author), Mayke Nollet (0009-0003-0146-9759, Utrecht University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 183-199 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0266-7215 • E-ISSN: 1468-2672 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/esr/jcag003 |
| OpenAlex | W7126400367 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 48 |
Inequality of opportunity and its trend over time is one of the most prominent policy concerns in Western countries. In social sciences, intergenerational transmission of education is often used as an indicator of inequality of opportunity. However, this neglects the role of genes. Twin studies parse out the effects of genes, the shared environment and the non-shared environment. This study uses population-wide data on twins and siblings from integral registers of Statistics Netherlands to assess trends in genetic influence (‘heritability’) and the influence of the shared environment on educational attainment in birth cohorts 1964–1997, including trends in gene × SES interactions. We adapt the classical twin design to estimate heritability in the absence of zygosity information. We found no evidence that inequality increased. In contrast, heritability of educational attainment increased and the shared environmental influence decreased between 1964 and 1970 and again between 1992 and 1997. Furthermore, the 1964–1979 cohort group but not the 1980–1997 cohort group showed a gene × SES interaction: heritability was lower in the lowest SES group than in the highest SES group
Cohort · Educational attainment · Educational inequality · Heritability · Inequality · Zygosity · Cognitive Abilities and Testing · Genetic Associations and Epidemiology · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
Unequal Childhoods
Three Laws of Behavior Genetics and What They Mean
Variance Components Models for Gene–Environment Interaction in Twin Analysis
Education policy and the heritability of educational attainment
Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence
The high heritability of educational achievement reflects many genetically influenced traits, not just intelligence
Top 10 Replicated Findings From Behavioral Genetics
Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals
Polygenic Prediction of Education and Its Role in the Intergenerational Transmission of Education
Shared Environment Estimates for Educational Attainment
Curricular Tracking and Central Examinations
Nonshared environment
The Social Stratification of Environmental and Genetic Influences on Education
A cross-national exploration of shadow education use by high and low SES families
Family resources and male–female educational attainment
Disentangling genetic and social pathways of the intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability – A nuclear twin family study
Gene-environment interactions and school tracking during secondary education
Track recommendation bias
Variation in the Heritability of Educational Attainment
Nonpersistent Inequality in Educational Attainment
Weinberg's Differential Rule Reconsidered
Genes, Gender Inequality, and Educational Attainment
The Global Increase in the Socioeconomic Achievement Gap, 1964 to 2015
Social and Genetic Pathways in Multigenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment
Genotype-environment interaction and correlation in the analysis of human behavior
The Social Influences on the Realization of Genetic Potential for Intellectual Development
The Weight of the Genetic and Environmental Dimensions in the Inter-Generational Transmission of Educational Success
Genetic Influences on Educational Achievement in Cross-National Perspective
Socioeconomic Background and Gene-Environment Interplay in Social Stratification across the Early Life Course
Compensating or boosting genetic propensities? Gene-family socioeconomic status interactions by educational outcome selectivity
The social and genetic inheritance of educational attainment
What can we learn from twin studies? A comprehensive evaluation of the equal environments assumption
Late or later? A sibling analysis of the effect of maternal age on children's schooling
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |