The relationship between education and political knowledge:: evidence from discordant Danish twins

Aaron Weinschenk; Chris Dawes; Stig Hebbelstrup Rye Rasmussen; Robert Klemmensen

doi:10.1080/17457289.2021.1952416

The relationship between education and political knowledge: evidence from discordant Danish twins

Aaron Weinschenk^*, Chris Dawes, Stig Hebbelstrup Rye Rasmussen, Robert Klemmensen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Many studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between education and political knowledge. However, some scholars have recently challenged this idea, arguing that the positive correlation between education and knowledge may disappear once confounding variables are considered. In this paper, we replicate a recent study that used the discordant twin design to examine the association between education and political knowledge. More specifically, we analyze the relationship between education and political knowledge within monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, which enables us to bypass sources of confounding of the relationship (i.e. genes and socialization) because MZ twins reared together share both. Using data from a 2019 survey of twins from the Danish Twin Registry, we find that, consistent with earlier work, after accounting for familial factors, the relationship between education on political knowledge is small and not statistically significant.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties
Volume	33
Issue	1
Pages (from-to)	105-117
Number of pages	13
ISSN	1745-7289
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2021.1952416
Publication status	Published - 2023

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10.1080/17457289.2021.1952416

Cite this

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title = "The relationship between education and political knowledge:: evidence from discordant Danish twins",

abstract = "Many studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between education and political knowledge. However, some scholars have recently challenged this idea, arguing that the positive correlation between education and knowledge may disappear once confounding variables are considered. In this paper, we replicate a recent study that used the discordant twin design to examine the association between education and political knowledge. More specifically, we analyze the relationship between education and political knowledge within monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, which enables us to bypass sources of confounding of the relationship (i.e. genes and socialization) because MZ twins reared together share both. Using data from a 2019 survey of twins from the Danish Twin Registry, we find that, consistent with earlier work, after accounting for familial factors, the relationship between education on political knowledge is small and not statistically significant.",

author = "Aaron Weinschenk and Chris Dawes and Rasmussen, {Stig Hebbelstrup Rye} and Robert Klemmensen",

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The relationship between education and political knowledge: evidence from discordant Danish twins. / Weinschenk, Aaron; Dawes, Chris; Rasmussen, Stig Hebbelstrup Rye et al.
In: Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2023, p. 105-117.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - The relationship between education and political knowledge:

T2 - evidence from discordant Danish twins

AU - Weinschenk, Aaron

AU - Dawes, Chris

AU - Rasmussen, Stig Hebbelstrup Rye

AU - Klemmensen, Robert

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Many studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between education and political knowledge. However, some scholars have recently challenged this idea, arguing that the positive correlation between education and knowledge may disappear once confounding variables are considered. In this paper, we replicate a recent study that used the discordant twin design to examine the association between education and political knowledge. More specifically, we analyze the relationship between education and political knowledge within monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, which enables us to bypass sources of confounding of the relationship (i.e. genes and socialization) because MZ twins reared together share both. Using data from a 2019 survey of twins from the Danish Twin Registry, we find that, consistent with earlier work, after accounting for familial factors, the relationship between education on political knowledge is small and not statistically significant.

AB - Many studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between education and political knowledge. However, some scholars have recently challenged this idea, arguing that the positive correlation between education and knowledge may disappear once confounding variables are considered. In this paper, we replicate a recent study that used the discordant twin design to examine the association between education and political knowledge. More specifically, we analyze the relationship between education and political knowledge within monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, which enables us to bypass sources of confounding of the relationship (i.e. genes and socialization) because MZ twins reared together share both. Using data from a 2019 survey of twins from the Danish Twin Registry, we find that, consistent with earlier work, after accounting for familial factors, the relationship between education on political knowledge is small and not statistically significant.

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DO - 10.1080/17457289.2021.1952416

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JO - Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties

JF - Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties

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