BACKGROUND: Influential work has explored the role of family socioeconomic status (SES) as an environmental moderator of genetic and environmental influences on cognitive outcomes. This work has provided evidence that socioeconomic circumstances differentially impact the heritability of cognitive abilities, generally supporting the bioecological model in that genetic influences are greater at higher levels of family SES. The present work expanded consideration of the environment, using school-level SES as a moderator of reading comprehension. METHODS: The sample included 577 pairs of twins from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, Behavior and Environment. Reading comprehension was measured by the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) Reading in third or fourth grade. School-level SES was measured by the mean Free and Reduced Lunch Status (FRLS) of the schoolmates of the twins. RESULTS: The best-fitting univariate G × E moderation model indicated greater genetic influences on reading comprehension when fewer schoolmates qualified for FRLS (i.e., 'higher' school-level SES). There was also an indication of moderation of the shared environment; there were greater shared environmental influences on reading comprehension at higher school-level SES. CONCLUSIONS: The results supported the bioecological model; greater genetic variance was found in school environments in which student populations experienced less poverty. In general, 'higher' school-level SES allowed genetic and probably shared environmental variance to contribute as sources of individual differences in reading comprehension outcomes. Poverty suppresses these influences.
BACKGROUND: Influential work has explored the role of family socioeconomic status (SES) as an environmental moderator of genetic and environmental influences on cognitive outcomes. This work has provided evidence that socioeconomic circumstances differentially impact the heritability of cognitive abilities, generally supporting the bioecological model in that genetic influences are greater at higher levels of family SES. The present work expanded consideration of the environment, using school-level SES as a moderator of reading comprehension. METHODS: The sample included 577 pairs of twins from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, Behavior and Environment. Reading comprehension was measured by the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) Reading in third or fourth grade. School-level SES was measured by the mean Free and Reduced Lunch Status (FRLS) of the schoolmates of the twins. RESULTS: The best-fitting univariate G × E moderation model indicated greater genetic influences on reading comprehension when fewer schoolmates qualified for FRLS (i.e., 'higher' school-level SES). There was also an indication of moderation of the shared environment; there were greater shared environmental influences on reading comprehension at higher school-level SES. CONCLUSIONS: The results supported the bioecological model; greater genetic variance was found in school environments in which student populations experienced less poverty. In general, 'higher' school-level SES allowed genetic and probably shared environmental variance to contribute as sources of individual differences in reading comprehension outcomes. Poverty suppresses these influences.
Authors: William S Kremen; Kristen C Jacobson; Hong Xian; Seth A Eisen; Brian Waterman; Rosemary Toomey; Michael C Neale; Ming T Tsuang; Michael J Lyons Journal: Behav Genet Date: 2005-07 Impact factor: 2.805
Authors: Michael D Grant; William S Kremen; Kristen C Jacobson; Carol Franz; Hong Xian; Seth A Eisen; Rosemary Toomey; Ruth E Murray; Michael J Lyons Journal: Behav Genet Date: 2010-03-19 Impact factor: 2.805
Authors: Steven Boker; Michael Neale; Hermine Maes; Michael Wilde; Michael Spiegel; Timothy Brick; Jeffrey Spies; Ryne Estabrook; Sarah Kenny; Timothy Bates; Paras Mehta; John Fox Journal: Psychometrika Date: 2011-04-01 Impact factor: 2.500
Authors: Brian Byrne; William L Coventry; Richard K Olson; Stefan Samuelsson; Robin Corley; Erik G Willcutt; Sally Wadsworth; John C Defries Journal: J Neurolinguistics Date: 2009-05 Impact factor: 1.710
Authors: Ken B Hanscombe; Maciej Trzaskowski; Claire M A Haworth; Oliver S P Davis; Philip S Dale; Robert Plomin Journal: PLoS One Date: 2012-02-01 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Micaela E Christopher; Jacqueline Hulslander; Brian Byrne; Stefan Samuelsson; Janice M Keenan; Bruce Pennington; John C DeFries; Sally J Wadsworth; Erik Willcutt; Richard K Olson Journal: Child Dev Date: 2014-09-26
Authors: Miao Li; Dongnhu T Truong; Mellissa DeMille; Jeffrey G Malins; Maureen W Lovett; Joan Bosson-Heenan; Jeffrey R Gruen; Jan C Frijters Journal: Child Neuropsychol Date: 2019-08-14 Impact factor: 2.500