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Social scientists would do well to steer clear of polygenic scores

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2023

David Curtis Open the ORCID record for David Curtis [Opens in a new window]
David Curtis*
Affiliation:
UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, London, UK d.curtis@ucl.ac.uk; http://www.davecurtis.net/dcurtis.html Centre for Psychiatry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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Abstract

The problems with polygenic scores (PGSs) have been understated. The fact that they are ancestry-specific means that biases related to sociodemographic factors would be impossible to avoid. Additionally, the requirement to obtain DNA would have profound impacts on study design and required resources, as well as likely introducing recruitment bias. PGSs are unhelpful for social science research.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e212
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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