Europe PMC

This website requires cookies, and the limited processing of your personal data in order to function. By using the site you are agreeing to this as outlined in our privacy notice and cookie policy.

Differential Influences of Genes and Environment Across the Distribution of Reading Ability.

Author information

Affiliations

  • 1. Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
      Authors
    • McGowan D 1
    (1 author)
  • 2. Department of Psychology, University of New England, Library Rd, Armidale, NSW, 2350, Australia.
      Authors
    • Little CW 2
    • Coventry WL 2
    • Byrne B 2
    (3 authors)
  • 3. University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, USA.
      Authors
    • Corley R 3
    • Olson RK 3
    (2 authors)
  • 4. Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
      Authors
    • Samuelsson S 4
    (1 author)

ORCIDs linked to this article

Behavior Genetics, 05 Aug 2019, 49(5):425-431
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-019-09966-7 PMID: 31385189 

Abstract 

We partitioned early childhood reading into genetic and environmental sources of variance and examined the full distribution of ability levels from low through normal to high as computed by quantile regression. The full sample comprised twin pairs measured at preschool (n = 977), kindergarten (n = 1028), grade 1 (n = 999), and grade 2 (n = 1000). Quantile regression analyses of the full distribution of literacy ability showed genetic influence in all grades from preschool to grade 2. At preschool, the low end of the distribution had higher genetic influence than the high end of the distribution and the shared environment influence was the opposite. These shared environment influences of preschool became insignificant with formal schooling. This suggests that higher scores in pre-literacy skills (preschool) are more influenced by shared environment factors, though these are short-lived. This study discusses the factors that may be influencing the results.

Full text links 

Read article at publisher's site: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-019-09966-7

Citations & impact 

This article has not been cited yet.

Impact metrics

Alternative metrics

Altmetric item for https://www.altmetric.com/details/64819006
Altmetric
Discover the attention surrounding your research
https://www.altmetric.com/details/64819006

Similar Articles 

To arrive at the top five similar articles we use a word-weighted algorithm to compare words from the Title and Abstract of each citation.

Funding 

Funders who supported this work.

Australian Research Council (1)

National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (1)

Swedish Research Council (1)