Nature, nurture and academic achievement: A twin study of teacher assessments of 7‐year‐olds

Walker, Sheila O.; Petrill, Stephen A.; Spinath, Frank M.; Plomin, Robert

doi:10.1348/0007099041552387

Cited by 44 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…Our current results challenge such a conceptualization, as environmental factors (whether shared or nonshared) accounted for a relatively modest portion of the variance in GPA, notably less than for personality. Although these results may be inconsistent with conventional beliefs regarding academic achievement, they are consistent with other twin studies that have actually attempted to estimate the relative genetic and environmental contributions to GPA Walker, Petrill, Spinath, & Plomin, 2004). The accumulating empirical evidence, then, suggests an alternative conceptualization of academic achievement that incorporates the role of genetic influence and links with individual differences in variables such as personality and intelligence.…”

Section: Results Involving Observed Personality and Gpa And Basic Quasupporting

confidence: 57%

Moderating effects of personality on the genetic and environmental influences of school grades helps to explain sex differences in scholastic achievement

et al. 2008

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Girls consistently achieve higher grades than boys despite scoring lower on major standardized tests and not having higher IQs. Sex differences in non-cognitive variables such as personality might help to account for sex differences in grades. Utilizing a large sample of 17 year-old twins participating in the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS), we examined the roles of Achievement Striving, SelfControl, and Aggression on sex differences in grade point average (GPA). Each personality trait was a significant predictor of GPA, with sex differences in Aggression accounting for one-half the sex difference in GPA and genetic variance accounting for most of the overlap between personality and GPA. Achievement Striving and Self-Control moderated the genetic and environmental influences on GPA. Specifically, for girls but not boys, higher Achievement Striving and Self-Control were associated with less variability in GPA and greater genetic and environmental overlap with GPA. For girls, certain personality traits operate to shape a context yielding uniformly higher GPA, a process that seems absent in boys. Keywordsgrade point average; personality; sex differences; gene-environment interactions and correlations Girls get better school grades than boys. This is true in all subjects throughout elementary, middle, and high school, and even into college (American Association of University Women, 1998;Mau & Lynn, 2001;Perkins et al., 2004;Pomerantz et al., 2002;Willingham & Cole, 1997). Girls, however, do not have higher IQ's, and they do not score as well on some of the major standardized tests (American Association of University Women, 1998;Deary et al., 2007;Mau & Lynn, 2001). This has meant, in particular, that standardized test scores do not have the same predictive validity for college grades in men and women. For example, Stricker et al. (1993) found that a regression equation predicting college freshman grade point average on a 4.0 scale using Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores under-predicted women's firstsemester grades by .10 and over-predicted those of men by .11.To understand the reason for sex differences in the association between ability and school performance requires delineating the factors that contribute to both the under-prediction of NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptEur J Pers. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 March 11. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript girls' grades and the over-prediction of boys'. Historically, however, most research efforts have been devoted to understanding the male advantage in standardized test scores, with an eye to understanding the under-prediction of female grades, particularly in the areas of math and science. Varied explanations have been offered. For example, some have suggested that girls may take easier courses than boys and engage in fewer activities outside of the classroom that develop intellectual skills that are, directly or indirectly, measured by standardized tests (Entwisle et al., 1994;Lever, 1978;Loew...

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Section: Results Involving Observed Personality and Gpa And Basic Quasupporting

confidence: 57%

Moderating effects of personality on the genetic and environmental influences of school grades helps to explain sex differences in scholastic achievement

et al. 2008

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“…For example, children at level 1 in mathematics, shapes, space, and measures can describe twodimensional (2D) and 3D shapes, properties and position, measure and order objects using direct comparison, and order events; whereas children at level 2 use mathematical names for 2D and 3D shapes, describe their properties (e.g., numbers of sides and corners), distinguish between straight and turned movements, understand angle as a measurement of turn, Mathematics and English composite scores were highly correlated (r = .76) (Spinath, Walker, Saudino, & Plomin, 2005). Moreover, a principal components analysis of the six measures of academic achievement yielded a first unrotated principal component that accounted for 71% of the variance in teacher-assessed academic achievement (Walker et al, 2004). All six measures loaded highly on the general factor, suggesting that the six scores are well represented by a general academic achievement factor.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Moreover, a principal components analysis of the six measures of academic achievement yielded a first unrotated principal component that accounted for 71% of the variance in teacher-assessed academic achievement (Walker et al, 2004). All six measures loaded highly on the general factor, suggesting that the six scores are well represented by a general academic achievement factor.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Similarly, academic achievement is also substantially heritable. Recent research suggests that genetic factors explain more than 50% of the variability in academic achievement (e.g., Bartels, Rietveld, Van Baal, & Boomsma, 2002;Walker, Petrill, Spinath, & Plomin, 2004). It is possible, therefore, that hyperactivity and achievement are associated because of common genetic influences.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Why are Hyperactivity and Academic Achievement Related?

Saudino

Plomin

2007

Child Development

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Although a negative association between hyperactivity and academic achievement is well documented, little is known about the genetic and/or environmental mechanisms responsible for the association. The present study explored links between parent and teacher ratings of hyperactive behavior problems and teacher-assessed achievement in a sample of 1,876 twin pairs (mean age 7.04 years). The results did not differ across rater, nor were there significant differences between males or females or for twins in the same or different classrooms. Hyperactivity was significantly correlated with achievement. Multivariate model-fitting analyses revealed significant genetic and nonshared environmental covariance between the two phenotypes. In addition, bivariate heritabilities were substantial, indicating that the phenotypic correlations between hyperactivity and achievement were largely mediated by genetic influences.Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are typically academic underachievers. It has been estimated that anywhere from 9% to 80% of children with ADHD have significant learning problems (Frick et al., 1991;Rabiner & Malone, 2004;Rapport, Scanlan, & Denney, 1999). This association is, however, not limited to diagnoses of ADHD in clinical populations. When viewed as a continuously distributed trait consisting of behavioral problems of overactivity, impulsivity, and inattentiveness (Taylor, 1998), hyperactivity also reliably predicts academic underachievement. Dimensional measures of hyperactive problem behaviors in population-based samples are consistently associated with academic achievement such that children who display more hyperactive/inattentive behavior problems tend to perform more poorly in math, reading, language, and global measures of academic achievement (e.g., Adams, Snowling, Hennessy, & Kind, 1999;Barriga et al., 2002;DuPaul, 1991;Fergusson & Horwood, 1995;Merrell & Tymms, 2001;Rapport et al., 1999). Moreover, early hyperactive/inattentive behavior problems are predictive of academic achievement assessed up to 10 years later (Fergusson, Lynskey, & Horwood, 1997;McGee, Prior, Williams, Smart, & Sanson, 2002;Rabiner & Malone, 2004;Rapport et al., 1999). These associations hold when hyperactivity is assessed via parent or teacher ratings of problem behaviors (e.g., Adams et al., 1999;DuPaul, 1991;Goodman & Stevenson, 1989a) or temperament (e.g., Coplan, Barber, & Lagacé-Séguin, 1999; Martin & © 2007 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kimberly J. Saudino at the Psychology Department, Boston University, 64 Cummington St., Boston, MA 02215. Electronic mail may be sent to ksaudino@bu.edu. . NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 July 22. Published in final edited form as:Child Dev. 2007 ; 78(3): 972-986. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01044.x. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript Holbrook, ...

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“…Therefore, all teachers are very familiar with the guidelines and rating criteria. The use of teacher-report data has been supported in previous research (Oliver et al, 2004;Walker et al, 2004). Of particular importance for the low mathematics performance is that if a teacher deems that the child's performance is not adequate, the child will not take tests but will have their entire performance assessed by the teacher.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Developmental Origins of Low Mathematics Performance and Normal Variation in Twins from 7 to 9 Years

et al. 2007

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A previous publication reported the etiology of mathematics performance in 7-year-old twins (Oliver et al., 2004). As part of the same longitudinal study we investigated low mathematics performance and normal variation in a representative United Kingdom sample of 1713 same-sex 9-year-old twins based on teacher-assessed National Curriculum standards. Univariate individual differences and DeFries-Fulker extremes analyses were performed. Similar to our results at 7 years, all mathematics scores at 9 years showed high heritability (.62–.75) and low shared environmental estimates (.00–.11) for both the low performance group and the full sample. Longitudinal analyses were performed from 7 to 9 years. These longitudinal analyses indicated strong genetic continuity from 7 to 9 years for both low performance and mathematics in the normal range. We conclude that, despite the considerable differences in mathematics curricula from 7 to 9 years, the same genetic effects largely operate at the two ages.

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Nature, nurture and academic achievement: A twin study of teacher assessments of 7‐year‐olds

Abstract: The results confirm prior research suggesting that teacher assessments of academic achievement are substantially influenced by genetics. This finding holds even when twins are assessed independently by different teachers.

Cited by 44 publications

References 48 publications

Moderating effects of personality on the genetic and environmental influences of school grades helps to explain sex differences in scholastic achievement

Moderating effects of personality on the genetic and environmental influences of school grades helps to explain sex differences in scholastic achievement

Why are Hyperactivity and Academic Achievement Related?

Developmental Origins of Low Mathematics Performance and Normal Variation in Twins from 7 to 9 Years

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