How can we boost IQs of “dull children”?: A late adoption study

Duyme, M.; Dumaret, Annick‐Camille; Tomkiewicz, S

doi:10.1073/pnas.96.15.8790

Cited by 186 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…French national adoption studies, using a sibling-proband design, found that infant adoption had a positive effect on children's cognitive development, and that this process was positively correlated with the socio-educational background of the adoptive family [26,27]. The results were also replicated in a study of late adoptions (4-6 years) of neglected or abused children [28]. The educationally stimulating qualities of the adoptive families-and more specifically the socioeconomic prerequisites-are illustrated by the attenuation of differences of mean grade points between the adoptee groups and the majority population when socio-economic variables were also adjusted for (Table 3, The tests scores reflect functioning (at conscription) about 2 years after having finished ninth grade.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results

Lindblad

Dalen

Rasmussen

et al. 2009

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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Objective: To investigate school performance of international adoptees in relation to their cognitive competence. Method: From the population of all male Swedish residents born 1973–1976, registered in the census 1985 and with complete test scores from military conscription, the following study groups were identified: Korean adoptees (n = 320), non-Korean adoptees (n = 1,125), siblings (children born by adoptive parents, n = 190) and Swedish majority comparisons (n = 142,024). Global scores from intelligence tests at conscription were compared with grade points from the last compulsory school year (year 9). Linear and logistic regression was applied in statistical analyses. Results: The mean grade points in theoretical subjects were lower in non-Korean adoptees than in the majority population, but when global test scores from military conscription were adjusted for, outcomes were significantly better, equal for physics, than in the majority population. The grade points of Korean adoptees were higher than in the majority population and the same held true after adjusting for global test scores. When SES was taken into account, the risk of poor school performance (only completed lower subject levels) increased in non-Korean adoptees compared to models only adjusted for age and sex. Conclusion: Male international adoptees generally perform better in school than expected by their cognitive competence. A cognitive evaluation is important in the assessment of adoptees with learning difficulties

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results

Lindblad

Dalen

Rasmussen

et al. 2009

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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show abstract

“…It cannot be known for certain what the IQ scores of the adoptees would have been had they not been adopted, but they might have been somewhat lower. IQ gains as large as 19.5 have been found among children adopted by high SES families at ages 4-6 and who had experienced abuse or neglect (Duyme, Dumaret, & Tomkiewcz, 1999). A recent meta-analysis showed that adopted children's IQ scores exceeded those of their non-adopted biological siblings and peers who remained with their birth families or in institutional care (Van Ijzendoorn, Juffer, & Poelhuis, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intellectual similarity of virtual twin pairs: Developmental trends

Segal

McGuire

Havlena

et al. 2007

Personality and Individual Differences

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Virtual twins (VTs) are same-age unrelated siblings reared together from infancy who replicate twinship, but without the genetic relatedness. A 2005 report from the ongoing Fullerton Virtual Twin Study found an IQ intraclass correlation of .26 (p < .01, n = 113 pairs) and a within-pair difference of 13.22 IQ points. The average age of VTs in that study was 8.10 years (SD = 8.56, range: 4.01-54.84 years). An opportunity to retest members of 43 VT pairs, 1.70-8.96 years after their time 1 assessment, allowed additional analyses of genetic and environmental influences underlying general intellectual development. A decrease in the VT IQ correlation and an increase in the within-pair difference were indicated, consistent with increasing genetic and/or non-shared environmental influences and decreasing shared environmental influence on general intellectual development throughout childhood.

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“…Thus, Case, Lubotsky, and Paxson (2002) found that the association between low SES and children's health outcomes was closely similar in biological and adoptive families (unfortunately the findings are reported rather briefly without adequate detail). The inference (as in the Duyme, Dumaret, & Tomkiewicz, 1999, study dealing with IQ on the dependent variable-see below) is that some form of causal environmental effect was operative. The adoptee design, however, requires specific attention to the possibility of selective placement.…”

Section: Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proceeding From Observed Correlation to Causal Inference: The Use of Natural Experiments

Rutter

2007

Perspect Psychol Sci

326

357

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ABSTRACT-This article notes five reasons why a correlation between a risk (or protective) factor and some specified outcome might not reflect environmental causation. In keeping with numerous other writers, it is noted that a causal effect is usually composed of a constellation of components acting in concert. The study of causation, therefore, will necessarily be informative on only one or more subsets of such components. There is no such thing as a single basic necessary and sufficient cause. Attention is drawn to the need (albeit unobservable) to consider the counterfactual (i.e., what would have happened if the individual had not had the supposed risk experience). Fifteen possible types of natural experiments that may be used to test causal inferences with respect to naturally occurring prior causes (rather than planned interventions) are described. These comprise five types of genetically sensitive designs intended to control for possible genetic mediation (as well as dealing with other issues), six uses of twin or adoptee strategies to deal with other issues such as selection bias or the contrasts between different environmental risks, two designs to deal with selection bias, regression discontinuity designs to take into account unmeasured confounders, and the study of contextual effects. It is concluded that, taken in conjunction, natural experiments can be very helpful in both strengthening and weakening causal inferences.From an early point in their training, all behavioral scientists are taught that statistically significant correlations do not necessarily mean any kind of causative effect. Nevertheless, the literature is full of studies with findings that are exclusively based on correlational evidence. Researchers tend to fall into one of two camps with respect to how they react to the problem. First, there are those who are careful to use language that avoids any direct claim for causation, and yet, in the discussion section of their papers, they imply that the findings do indeed mean causation. Second, there are those that completely accept the inability to make a causal inference on the basis of simple correlation or association and, instead, take refuge in the claim that they are studying only associations and not causation. This second, ''pure'' approach sounds safer, but it is disingenuous because it is difficult to see why anyone would be interested in statistical associations or correlations if the findings were not in some way relevant to an understanding of causative mechanisms.Some researchers argue that only laboratory experiments or randomized controlled trials (RCTs) allow any firm causal inference. Of course, it is true that both provide a much needed control that allows rigorous testing of the causal hypothesis and takes account of unmeasured confounders. Nevertheless, there are many risk factors for which neither laboratory experiments nor RCTs are feasible or ethical. That would apply, for example, to experiences such as maltreatment, life stresses, or child neglect. How should thes...

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How can we boost IQs of “dull children”?: A late adoption study

Cited by 186 publications

References 33 publications

School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results

School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results

Intellectual similarity of virtual twin pairs: Developmental trends

Proceeding From Observed Correlation to Causal Inference: The Use of Natural Experiments

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