Human Capital Mediates Natural Selection in Contemporary Humans

• Published in: Behavior genetics Vol. 52; no. 4-5; pp. 205 - 234
• Main Authors: Hugh-Jones, David, Abdellaoui, Abdel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.09.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Clinical Psychology; Earnings; Economic theory; Educational Status; Fertility; Fertility - genetics; Health disparities; Health Psychology; Health status; Human capital; Humans; Income; Income inequality; Labor market; Natural selection; Older parents; Original Research; Psychology; Public Health; Selection effects; Selection, Genetic; Sexual behavior; Sexual partners; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic status; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; Economic theory of fertility; Natural selection; Polygenic scores

Natural selection has been documented in contemporary humans, but little is known about the mechanisms behind it. We test for natural selection through the association between 33 polygenic scores and fertility, across two generations, using data from UK Biobank (N = 409,629 British subjects with Eur...