Abstract
Education has been suggested to be possibly the most consistent, robust, and durable method available for raising intelligence, but little is known about the genetic and environmental interplay underlying this association. Therefore, we investigated how school achievement, as measured by grade point average in lower secondary school at 15 years of age, moderated intelligence variation in young adulthood. The sample consisted of all Danish male twin pairs who had left lower secondary school since 2002 and appeared, typically at age 18, before a draft board through 2015 (N = 2660). Shared environmental variance unique to intelligence (10% of total variance) was found to be greater among individuals with poor school achievement. However, school achievement did not moderate the genetic influences or the non-shared environmental influences on intelligence. We discuss the implications of this in light of the constraints imposed by the statistical models we used.
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All code is available from the corresponding author on request.
Change history
04 January 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-021-10098-0
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data preparation and analysis were performed by Emilie Rune Hegelund. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Emilie Rune Hegelund and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Emilie Rune Hegelund, Erik Lykke Mortensen, Trine Flensborg-Madsen, Jesper Dammeyer, Kaare Christensen, and Wendy Johnson declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Hegelund, E.R., Mortensen, E.L., Flensborg-Madsen, T. et al. The Moderating Influence of School Achievement on Intelligence in Young Adulthood. Behav Genet 51, 45–57 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-020-10027-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-020-10027-7