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Differential Influences of Genes and Environment Across the Distribution of Reading Ability

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Abstract

We partitioned early childhood reading into genetic and environmental sources of variance and examined the full distribution of ability levels from low through normal to high as computed by quantile regression. The full sample comprised twin pairs measured at preschool (n = 977), kindergarten (n = 1028), grade 1 (n = 999), and grade 2 (n = 1000). Quantile regression analyses of the full distribution of literacy ability showed genetic influence in all grades from preschool to grade 2. At preschool, the low end of the distribution had higher genetic influence than the high end of the distribution and the shared environment influence was the opposite. These shared environment influences of preschool became insignificant with formal schooling. This suggests that higher scores in pre-literacy skills (preschool) are more influenced by shared environment factors, though these are short-lived. This study discusses the factors that may be influencing the results.

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Funding

Funding to BB was provided by the Australian Research Council (Grant Nos. DP0663498 and DP0770805), to RKO by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (Grant Nos. HD27802 and HD38526), and to SS by the Swedish Research Council (Grant Nos. 345-2002-3701 and PDOKJ028/2006:1), and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Grant No. PDOKJ028/2006:1). We thank the Australian Twin Registry, our testers, and the twins and parents involved. The Australian Twin Registry is supported by a Centre of Excellence Grant from the National Health & Medical Research Council administered by The University of Melbourne.

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Correspondence to Callie W. Little.

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Dipti McGowan, Callie W. Little, William L. Coventry, Robin Corley, Richard K. Olson, Stefan Samuelsson, and Brian Byrne declares no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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McGowan, D., Little, C.W., Coventry, W.L. et al. Differential Influences of Genes and Environment Across the Distribution of Reading Ability. Behav Genet 49, 425–431 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-019-09966-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-019-09966-7

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