Developmental origins of low mathematics performance and normal variation in twins from 7 to 9 years

TY - JOUR

T1 - Developmental origins of low mathematics performance and normal variation in twins from 7 to 9 years

AU - Haworth, Claire M. A.

AU - Kovas, Yulia

AU - Petrill, Stephen A.

AU - Plomin, Robert

PY - 2007/2

Y1 - 2007/2

N2 - A previous publication reported the etiology of mathematics performance in 7-year-old twins (Oliver et al., 2004). As part of the same longitudinal study we investigated low mathematics performance and normal variation in a representative United Kingdom sample of 1713 same-sex 9-year-old twins based on teacher-assessed National Curriculum standards. Univariate individual differences and DeFries-Fulker extremes analyses were performed. Similar to our results at 7 years, all mathematics scores at 9 years showed high heritability (.62-.75) and low shared environmental estimates (.00-.11) for both the low performance group and the full sample. Longitudinal analyses were performed from 7 to 9 years. These longitudinal analyses indicated strong genetic continuity from 7 to 9 years for both low performance and mathematics in the normal range. We conclude that, despite the considerable differences in mathematics curricula from 7 to 9 years, the same genetic effects largely operate at the two ages

AB - A previous publication reported the etiology of mathematics performance in 7-year-old twins (Oliver et al., 2004). As part of the same longitudinal study we investigated low mathematics performance and normal variation in a representative United Kingdom sample of 1713 same-sex 9-year-old twins based on teacher-assessed National Curriculum standards. Univariate individual differences and DeFries-Fulker extremes analyses were performed. Similar to our results at 7 years, all mathematics scores at 9 years showed high heritability (.62-.75) and low shared environmental estimates (.00-.11) for both the low performance group and the full sample. Longitudinal analyses were performed from 7 to 9 years. These longitudinal analyses indicated strong genetic continuity from 7 to 9 years for both low performance and mathematics in the normal range. We conclude that, despite the considerable differences in mathematics curricula from 7 to 9 years, the same genetic effects largely operate at the two ages

UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2648067/

U2 - 10.1375/twin.10.1.106

DO - 10.1375/twin.10.1.106

M3 - Article

VL - 10

SP - 106

EP - 117

JO - TWIN RESEARCH AND HUMAN GENETICS

JF - TWIN RESEARCH AND HUMAN GENETICS

IS - 1

ER -