Armitage J M, Wootton R E, Davis O S P, Haworth C M A
Wolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Npj Ment Health Res. 2024 May 9;3(1):23. doi: 10.1038/s44184-024-00066-x.
Educational attainment is associated with a range of positive outcomes, yet its impact on wellbeing is unclear, and complicated by high correlations with intelligence. We use genetic and observational data to investigate for the first time, whether educational attainment and intelligence are causally and independently related to wellbeing. Results from our multivariable Mendelian randomisation demonstrated a positive causal impact of a genetic predisposition to higher educational attainment on wellbeing that remained after accounting for intelligence, and a negative impact of intelligence that was independent of educational attainment. Observational analyses suggested that these associations may be subject to sex differences, with benefits to wellbeing greater for females who attend higher education compared to males. For intelligence, males scoring more highly on measures related to happiness were those with lower intelligence. Our findings demonstrate a unique benefit for wellbeing of staying in school, over and above improving cognitive abilities, with benefits likely to be greater for females compared to males.
教育程度与一系列积极结果相关，但它对幸福感的影响尚不清楚，且因与智力的高度相关性而变得复杂。我们首次使用基因和观察数据来研究教育程度和智力是否与幸福感存在因果关系且相互独立。我们的多变量孟德尔随机化结果表明，在考虑智力因素后，遗传易感性导致的更高教育程度对幸福感有积极的因果影响，而智力的负面影响与教育程度无关。观察性分析表明，这些关联可能存在性别差异，接受高等教育的女性比男性对幸福感的益处更大。对于智力而言，在与幸福感相关的测量中得分较高的男性是那些智力较低的人。我们的研究结果表明，上学对幸福感有独特的益处，除了提高认知能力之外，女性可能比男性受益更大。
