BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online

    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.

    [img]
    Preview
    Text
    46034.pdf - Author's Accepted Manuscript

    Download (413kB) | Preview
    [img]
    Preview
    Text
    46034a.pdf - Supplemental Material

    Download (207kB) | Preview

    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.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the article, which has been published in final form at the link above. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Adoption, Executive Function, Verbal Ability, Academic Achievement, Development
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
    Depositing User: Angelica Ronald
    Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2021 13:27
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 18:12
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/46034

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    117Downloads
    6 month trend
    124Hits

    Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

    Archive Staff Only (login required)

    Edit/View Item
    Edit/View Item