Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Development of Cognitive Abilities

Patrick, Carol

doi:10.1016/s0022-4405(99)00038-2

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The young age of the children in the present sample could partly explain this pattern of findings, as genetic contributions to individual differences in cognitive abilities tend to increase with age (Patrick, 2000). However that may be, it is important to distinguish measures of general cognitive skill, such as IQ tests, from more extensive measures of cognitive school readiness, especially as they relate to school adjustment; the Lollipop scale was shown to substantially predict later school achievement over and above general cognitive ability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

The Genetic–Environmental Etiology of Cognitive School Readiness and Later Academic Achievement in Early Childhood

et al. 2007

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Using a genetic design of 840 60-month-old twins, this study investigated the genetic and environmental contributions to (a) individual differences in four components of cognitive school readiness, (b) the general ability underlying these four components, and (c) the predictive association between school readiness and school achievement. Results revealed that the contribution of the shared environment for cognitive school readiness was substantial. Genetic effects were more important for the core abilities underlying school readiness than for each specific skill, although shared environment remained the largest factor overall. Genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental factors all accounted for the predictive association between school readiness and early school achievement. These results contribute to a better understanding of the early determinants of school readiness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

The Genetic–Environmental Etiology of Cognitive School Readiness and Later Academic Achievement in Early Childhood

et al. 2007

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“…The mean age of participants in our study is relatively high compared to the previous studies. Genetic effect on cognitive development is known to generally increase and environmental influence decrease across ages, and the prenatal period and early childhood are considered to be highly sensitive to environmental exposures (Patrick, 2000). However, the significant effects of environmental lead and tobacco smoke exposure in this study suggest that neurocognitive performance can be influenced by environmental neurotoxin in school‐age children or that environmental influence on cognition might persist throughout development.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of environmental exposure to lead and tobacco smoke on inattentive and hyperactive symptoms and neurocognitive performance in children

Cho

Kim

Hong

et al. 2010

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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“…In fact, genetics is rarely addressed in educational psychology research even in light ofthe substantial body of research suggesting genetic influence on academic achievement as well as educationally relevant traits such as cognitive abilities and reading (Patrick, 2000;Petrill & Wilkerson, 2000;Plomin & Walker, 2003). One way in which to investigate more precisely the influence of specific environmental measures on academic achievement is to embed environmental research in a genetic framework such as the twin design, which uses the natural experiment of identical and fraternal twins to assess genetic influence (Plomin & Bergeman, 1991).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A genetically sensitive investigation of the effects of the school environment and socio‐economic status on academic achievement in seven‐year‐olds

Walker

Petrill

Plomin

2005

Educational Psychology

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Although it is well established that school characteristics (SCH) and socio-economic status (SES) are associated with academic achievement (ACH), these correlations are not necessarily causal. Because academic achievement shows substantial genetic influence, it is useful to embed such investigations in genetically sensitive designs in order to examine environmental influences more precisely by controlling genetic influence on ACH. In the first study of this kind for academic achievement, data were collected for 1,063 same-sex pairs of seven-year-old MZ and DZ twins for teacher-assessed ACH, UK statistics on SCH, and parent-reported SES. Exclusive of genetic influence on school achievement, shared environment (environmental influences that make siblings similar) accounts for 12"/) ofthe variance in academic achievement. SCH accounts for 17% and SES accounts for 83' %> ofthis shared environmental variance. Exclusive of genetic and shared environmental influence including SCH and SES, nonshared environment (environmental influences that do not make siblings similar) accounts for 19% of the variance in academic achievement. The importance of nonshared environmental influences on academic achievement leads to the question of what these child-speciflc experiences might be that are not shared by children in the same family, school, and classroom.Research in educational psychology has long been directed towards understanding how specific aspects of the environment mediate academic achievement, with the ultimate goal of identifying modifiable environmental risk factors and improving performance. For example, some key aspects of the school environment that have been assessed are distal variables such as class size, ethnicity, percent of students receiving free school meals, and truancy (Ehrenberg, Brewer,

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Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Development of Cognitive Abilities

Cited by 18 publications

References 35 publications

The Genetic–Environmental Etiology of Cognitive School Readiness and Later Academic Achievement in Early Childhood

The Genetic–Environmental Etiology of Cognitive School Readiness and Later Academic Achievement in Early Childhood

Effect of environmental exposure to lead and tobacco smoke on inattentive and hyperactive symptoms and neurocognitive performance in children

A genetically sensitive investigation of the effects of the school environment and socio‐economic status on academic achievement in seven‐year‐olds

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