TY - JOUR
T1 - Arithmetic, reading and writing performance has a strong genetic component: A study in primary school children
AU - de Zeeuw, E.L.
AU - van Beijsterveldt, C.E.M.
AU - Glasner, T.J.
AU - de Geus, E.J.C.
AU - Boomsma, D.I.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Even children attending the same primary school and taught by the same teacher differ greatly in their performance. In the Netherlands, performance at the end of primary school determines the enrollment in a particular level of secondary education. Identifying the impact of genes and the environment on individual differences in educational achievement between children is important. The Netherlands Twin Register has collected data on scores of tests used in primary school (ages 6 to 12) to monitor a child's educational progress in four domains, i.e. arithmetic, word reading, reading comprehension and spelling (1058 MZ and 1734 DZ twin pairs), and of a final test (2451 MZ and 4569 DZ twin pairs) in a large Dutch cohort. In general, individual differences in educational achievement were to a large extent due to genes and the influence of the family environment was negligible. Moreover, there is no evidence for gender differences in the underlying etiology.
AB - Even children attending the same primary school and taught by the same teacher differ greatly in their performance. In the Netherlands, performance at the end of primary school determines the enrollment in a particular level of secondary education. Identifying the impact of genes and the environment on individual differences in educational achievement between children is important. The Netherlands Twin Register has collected data on scores of tests used in primary school (ages 6 to 12) to monitor a child's educational progress in four domains, i.e. arithmetic, word reading, reading comprehension and spelling (1058 MZ and 1734 DZ twin pairs), and of a final test (2451 MZ and 4569 DZ twin pairs) in a large Dutch cohort. In general, individual differences in educational achievement were to a large extent due to genes and the influence of the family environment was negligible. Moreover, there is no evidence for gender differences in the underlying etiology.
U2 - 10.1016/j.lindif.2016.01.009
DO - 10.1016/j.lindif.2016.01.009
M3 - Article
SN - 1041-6080
VL - 47
SP - 156
EP - 166
JO - Learning and Individual Differences
JF - Learning and Individual Differences
ER -
