Early manifestations of intellectual performance: evidence that genetic effects on later academic test performance are mediated through verbal ability in early childhood

Austerberry, Chloe and Fearon, P. and Ronald, Angelica and Leve, L.D. and Ganiban, J.M. and Natsuaki, M.N. and Shaw, D.S. and Neiderhiser, J.M. and Reiss, D. (2022) Early manifestations of intellectual performance: evidence that genetic effects on later academic test performance are mediated through verbal ability in early childhood. Child Development 93 (2), e188-e206. ISSN 0009-3920.

Abstract

Intellectual performance is highly heritable and robustly predicts lifelong health and success but the earliest manifestations of genetic effects on this asset are not well understood. This study examined whether early executive function (EF) or verbal performance mediate genetic influences on subsequent intellectual performance, in a US-based sample of 561 adoptees (57% male) and their birth and adoptive parents (70% and 92% White, 13% and 4% African American, 7% and 2% Latinx, respectively). Genetic influences on children’s academic performance at 7 years were mediated by verbal performance at 4.5 years (β = .22, 95% CI [0.08, 0.35], p = .002) and not via EF, indicating that verbal performance is an early manifestation of genetic propensity for intellectual performance.

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