Disentangling multivariate relationships between cognition, language and social traits: structures of G, E, and rGE

  1. Fenja Schlag
  2. Lucía de Hoyos
  3. Ellen Verhoef
  4. Alexander Klassmann
  5. Simone van den Bedem
  6. Simon E. Fisher
  7. Brad Verhulst
  8. Beate St Pourcain
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Abstract

Background

Cognitive, language, and social abilities are complex, heritable and intertwined traits shaping children’s development and later mental health. To better understand cross-trait interrelationships, we model here the structures of shared genomic and shared non-genomic/residual (i.e. broadly environmental) influences, and their correlation (rGE), investigating cognitive, language, and social behavioural/communication measures.

Methods

Data were obtained for unrelated children (8-13 years) from two population-based cohorts: the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, N≤6,543) and the US Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) Study (N≤4,412), and analyses were carried out implementing an extended data-driven genetic-relationship-matrix structural equation modelling (GRM-SEM) approach.

Results

In ALSPAC, we identified two independent phenotypic domains, each captured by a structurally matching pair consisting of a genomic (A) and a non-genomic/residual (E) factor. The first domain reflected cognitive/language difficulties, with the largest genomic and residual factor loadings (λA and λE, respectively) for verbal IQ (λA=0.73(SE=0.05); λE=0.57(SE=0.07)). The second domain captured social difficulties, with the largest λA and λE for social communication measures (λA=0.39(SE=0.10); λE=0.82(SE=0.10)). We identified trait-specific rGE between pairs of A and E factors with different directions of effect (cognition/language rGE=0.89(SE=0.18), social rGE=-0.62(SE=0.17)). rGE patterns were linked to increased measurable A and E contributions for cognition/language difficulties, but decreased contributions for social problems. Analyses in ABCD confirmed the two domains for E and phenotypic structures, although genomic contributions were low.

Conclusions

In childhood, cognitive/language abilities versus social abilities are influenced by distinct genomic and/or environmental factors, potentially interlinked through trait-specific rGE, suggesting differences in developmental processes.

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