The association between polygenic scores for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and school performance: The role of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, polygenic scores for educational attainment, and shared familial factors.

BACKGROUND

Polygenic scores (PGS) for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) negatively predicts educational attainment (EA), but it remains unclear how ADHD symptoms, PGS for EA, and shared familiar factors influence the associations between PGS for ADHD and school performance.

METHOD

We combined survey data on ADHD symptoms, PGS, and register-based, objective measures of compulsory school performance at age 16 for 6049 twins in the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden. Linear and instrumental variable (IV) regression models were used to estimate the association between PGS for ADHD and grade point average (GPA), overall and by natural science, humanities, and practically oriented (e.g., sports, arts, music) subject categories. The models were adjusted for parent-rated ADHD symptoms, PGS for EA, and shared familial factors (dizygotic twin comparisons) to examine how these factors influenced the associations between PGS for ADHD and school performance.

RESULTS

PGS for ADHD were negatively associated with school performance;  = -0.12, 95% confidence interval = (-0.15, -0.09) for overall GPA with minor differences by subject category. Adjustment for ADHD symptoms attenuated these associations to a small degree compared to PGS for EA, and shared familial factors respectively. Stronger associations were observed using IV regressions compared to linear regression. However, in the IV regression analyses, most associations between PGS for ADHD and GPA in the practically oriented subject category were not significant.

CONCLUSION

Associations between PGS for ADHD and school performance are to a small degree influenced by ADHD symptoms, compared to PGS for EA and shared familial factors. These results highlight important considerations for research using PGS for ADHD to control for genetic factors, and for future clinical applications aiming to determine genetic liability towards ADHD.