Denomination is rather heritable; socioeconomic status less so....

Gene Expression
By Razib Khan
Jul 30, 2008 5:07 AMNov 5, 2019 9:31 AM

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I was curious about a few social variables which often associate across generations, and also within families. So I looked in the General Social Survey for denomination, highest degree and socioeconomic index, which I knew were surveyed for the individual (respondent), their parents and their spouse. Below the fold are the correlation matrices generated. Remember that if you assume a linear dependency you square the correlation (e.g., 0.50 → 0.25) to find out how much of the variation in X can be accounted for by variation in Y.

Religious denomination DenominationFather's Denom.Mother's Denom.Denom. RaisedSpouse Denom.Spouse Denom. Raised

Denomination-0.630.590.680.800.48

Father's Denom.--0.840.890.470.40

Mother's Denom.---0.870.410.39

Denom. Raised----0.480.42

Spouse Denom.----0.67

Spouse Denom. Raised------


Highest level of education

DegreeFather's Degree Mother's Degree Spouse Degree

Degree-0.430.410.57

Father's Degree --0.570.37

Mother's Degree ---0.35

Spouse Degree ----


Socioeconomic index SEIFather's SEI Mother's SEI Spouse SEI

SEI-0.260.230.33

Father's SEI --0.380.22

Mother's SEI ---0.20

Spouse SEI ----


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