Individual differences in educational attainment (EA) and physical health, as indexed by body mass index (BMI), are correlated within individuals and across generations. The aim of our study was to assess the transmission of these traits from parents to their offspring in childhood and adolescence. We analyzed BMI and EA in 13,916 families from the Netherlands. Data were available for 27,577 parents (mean age 33) and 26,855 of their offspring at 4 and 12 years of age. We employed structural equation modeling to simultaneously estimate the phenotypic transmission of BMI and EA from parents to offspring, the spousal correlations, and the residual child BMI-EA associations after accounting for intergenerational transmission and testing for gender differences therein. We found a significant intergenerational transmission of BMI to BMI in childhood (age 4; standardized regression coefficient β = .10) and adolescence (age 12; β = .20), and of EA to academic achievement in adolescence (β = .19). Cross-trait parent-to-offspring transmission was weak. All transmission effects were independent of parent or offspring gender. We observed within-person EA-BMI correlations that were negative in parents (∼−.09), positive in children (∼.05) and negative in adolescents (∼−.06). Residual EA-BMI were positive in children (∼.05) and insignificant in adolescents. Spousal correlations were .46 for EA, .21 for BMI, and ∼−.09 cross-trait. After accounting for spousal correlations, the intergenerational transmission for BMI and EA is mainly predictive within, but not across, traits. The within-person correlation between BMI and EA can change in direction between childhood and adulthood.

中文翻译：

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儿童和青少年体重指数和教育成果的代际传递

以体重指数 (BMI) 为指标的教育程度 (EA) 和身体健康状况的个体差异在个体内部和代际间相关。我们研究的目的是评估这些特征在儿童期和青春期从父母向后代的传递。我们分析了荷兰 13,916 个家庭的 BMI 和 EA。可获得 27,577 名父母（平均年龄 33 岁）及其 26,855 名 4 岁和 12 岁子女的数据。我们采用结构方程模型来同时估计 BMI 和 EA 从父母到后代的表型传递、配偶相关性以及在考虑代际传递和测试其中的性别差异后残留的儿童 BMI-EA 关联。我们发现童年期（4 岁；标准化回归系数 β = .10）和青春期（12 岁；β = .20）BMI 与 BMI 存在显着的代际传递，青春期 EA 与学业成绩（β = .19）存在显着代际传递。 。跨性状亲代至后代的传播较弱。所有传播效应均与父母或后代性别无关。我们观察到个体内 EA-BMI 相关性在父母中呈负相关（∼−.09），在儿童中呈正相关（∼.05），在青少年中呈负相关（∼−.06）。残余 EA-BMI 在儿童中呈阳性 (∼.05)，在青少年中不显着。EA 的配偶相关性为 0.46，BMI 的配偶相关性为 0.21，跨特质的配偶相关性为 ∼−.09。考虑到配偶相关性后，BMI 和 EA 的代际传递主要是在特征内部而不是跨特征之间进行预测。BMI 和 EA 之间的人内相关性在儿童期和成年期之间可能会发生变化。