PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Perline A. Demange
AU  - Margherita Malanchini
AU  - Travis T. Mallard
AU  - Pietro Biroli
AU  - Simon R. Cox
AU  - Andrew D. Grotzinger
AU  - Elliot M. Tucker-Drob
AU  - Abdel Abdellaoui
AU  - Louise Arseneault
AU  - Avshalom Caspi
AU  - David Corcoran
AU  - Benjamin Domingue
AU  - Colter Mitchell
AU  - Elsje van Bergen
AU  - Dorret I. Boomsma
AU  - Kathleen M. Harris
AU  - Hill F. Ip
AU  - Terrie E. Moffitt
AU  - Richie Poulton
AU  - Joseph Prinz
AU  - Karen Sugden
AU  - Jasmin Wertz
AU  - Benjamin Williams
AU  - Eveline L. de Zeeuw
AU  - Daniel W. Belsky
AU  - K. Paige Harden
AU  - Michel G. Nivard
TI  - Investigating the Genetic Architecture of Non-Cognitive Skills Using GWAS-by-Subtraction
AID  - 10.1101/2020.01.14.905794
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.01.14.905794
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/01/15/2020.01.14.905794.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/01/15/2020.01.14.905794.full
AB  - Educational attainment (EA) is influenced by cognitive abilities and by other characteristics and traits. However little is known about the genetic architecture of these “non-cognitive” contributions to EA. Here, we use Genomic Structural Equation Modelling and results of prior genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of EA (N = 1,131,881) and cognitive test performance (N = 257,841) to estimate SNP associations with variation in EA that is independent of cognitive ability. We identified 157 genome-wide significant loci and a polygenic architecture accounting for 57% of genetic variance in EA. Phenotypic and biological annotation revealed that (1) both cognitive and non-cognitive contributions to EA were genetically correlated with socioeconomic success and longevity; and (2) non-cognitive contributions to EA were related to personality, decision making, risk-behavior, and increased risk for psychiatric disorders; (3) non-cognitive and cognitive contributions to EA were enriched in the same tissues and cell types, but (4) showed different associations with gray-matter neuroimaging phenotypes.