Moderating Effects of Personality on the Genetic and Environmental Influences of School Grades Helps to Explain Sex Differences in Scholastic Achievement

Childhood personality and academic performance: A sibling fixed-effects study

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the associations between personality traits at age 8 and academic performance between ages 10 and 14, controlling for family confounds.

BACKGROUND

Many studies have shown links between children's personality traits and their school performance. However, we lack evidence on whether these associations remain after genetic and environmental confounders are accounted for.

METHOD

Sibling data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) were used (n = 9701). First, we estimated the overall associations between Big Five personality traits and academic performance, including literacy, numeracy, and foreign language. Second, we added sibling fixed effects to remove unmeasured confounders shared by siblings as well as rating bias.

RESULTS

Openness to Experience (between-person β = 0.22 [95% CI: 0.21-0.24]) and Conscientiousness (between-person β = 0.18 [95% CI 0.16-0.20]) were most strongly related to educational performance. Agreeableness (between-person β = 0.06 [95% CI -0.08-0.04]) and Extraversion (between-person β = 0.02 [95% CI 0.00-0.04]) showed small associations with educational performance. Neuroticism had a moderate negative association (between-person β = -0.14 [95% CI -0.15-0.11]). All associations between personality and performance were robust to confounding: the within-family estimates from sibling fixed-effects models overlapped with the between-person effects. Finally, childhood personality was equally predictive of educational performance across ages and genders.

CONCLUSIONS

Although family background is influential for academic achievement, it does not confound associations with personality. Childhood personality traits reflect unbiased and consistent individual differences in educational potential.

Teachers' behaviour and children's academic achievement: Evidence of gene-environment interactions

BACKGROUND

Children's academic achievement is considerably influenced by genetic factors, which rarely operate independently of environmental influences such as teachers' behaviour. Praise and punitive discipline are commonly used management strategies by teachers. However, their effects on the genetic expression of children's academic achievement are still unclear.

AIMS

This study examined potential gene-environment interactions in the associations between children's estimated genetic disposition for academic achievement and teachers' use of praise and punitive discipline in predicting academic achievement.

SAMPLE

The participants were 165 twin pairs in sixth grade (M = 12.1 years).

METHODS

Teachers reported on children's academic achievement, as well as on their own behaviour.

RESULTS

Multilevel regression analyses showed significant interactions between children's estimated genetic disposition for academic achievement and teachers' use of praise and punitive discipline, respectively, in predicting academic achievement. These interactions indicated an enhancement process, suggesting that genetically advantaged children are those most likely to benefit from regular praise and infrequent punishments from their teacher. Moreover, genetically advantaged children were not more (nor less) likely to receive praise or punishments than other students. However, students from underprivileged backgrounds were less likely to receive praise from their teachers.

CONCLUSIONS

The results emphasize the importance of teachers' regular use of praise and infrequent punitive discipline to help genetically advantaged children reach their full potential. Future studies should investigate other protective factors of the school environment that might reduce the role of genetic influences that undermine disadvantaged youth's academic achievement.

Big Five personality traits and academic performance: A meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE AND METHOD

This meta-analysis reports the most comprehensive assessment to date of the strength of the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and academic performance by synthesizing 267 independent samples (N = 413,074) in 228 unique studies. It also examined the incremental validity of personality traits above and beyond cognitive ability in predicting academic performance.

RESULTS

The combined effect of cognitive ability and personality traits explained 27.8% of the variance in academic performance. Cognitive ability was the most important predictor with a relative importance of 64%. Conscientiousness emerged as a strong and robust predictor of performance, even when controlling for cognitive ability, and accounted for 28% of the explained variance in academic performance. A significant moderating effect of education level was observed. The relationship of academic performance with openness, extraversion, and agreeableness demonstrated significantly larger effect sizes at the elementary/middle school level compared to the subsequent levels. Openness, despite its weak overall relative importance, was found to be an important determinant of student performance in the early years of school.

CONCLUSION

These findings reaffirm the critical role of personality traits in explaining academic performance through the most comprehensive assessment yet of these relationships.

Higher aggression is related to poorer academic performance in compulsory education

BACKGROUND

To conduct a comprehensive assessment of the association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education.

METHOD

We studied aggression and academic performance in over 27,000 individuals from four European twin cohorts participating in the ACTION consortium (Aggression in Children: Unraveling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies). Individual level data on aggression at ages 7-16 were assessed by three instruments (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) including parental, teacher and self-reports. Academic performance was measured with teacher-rated grade point averages (ages 12-14) or standardized test scores (ages 12-16). Random effect meta-analytical correlations with academic performance were estimated for parental ratings (in all four cohorts) and self-ratings (in three cohorts).

RESULTS

All between-family analyses indicated significant negative aggression-academic performance associations with correlations ranging from -.06 to -.33. Results were similar across different ages, instruments and raters and either with teacher-rated grade point averages or standardized test scores as measures of academic performance. Meta-analytical r's were -.20 and -.23 for parental and self-ratings, respectively. In within-family analyses of all twin pairs, the negative aggression-academic performance associations were statistically significant in 14 out of 17 analyses (r = -.17 for parental- and r = -.16 for self-ratings). Separate analyses in monozygotic (r = -.07 for parental and self-ratings), same-sex dizygotic (r's = -.16 and -.17 for parental and self-ratings) and opposite-sex dizygotic (r's = -.21 and -.19 for parental and self-ratings) twin pairs suggested partial confounding by genetic effects.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a robust negative association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Part of these associations were explained by shared genetic effects, but some evidence of a negative association between aggression and academic performance remained even in within-family analyses of monozygotic twin pairs.

Sexism and Aggression in Adolescence—How Do They Relate to Perceived Academic Achievement?

Sexist attitudes are rooted in patriarchal structures, which uphold traditional gender stereotypes, and which are still found in society today. Scholars have found gender differences in perceived academic achievement, with girls performing better than boys, and negative relationships between sexism and perceived academic achievement. Moreover, perceived academic achievement and sexist attitudes have been associated with aggression and different kinds of violence. This study examined the associations between sexist attitudes and perceived academic achievement (using self-report data). The study also assessed the mediating role of physical and verbal aggression in the relationship between sexist attitudes and perceived academic achievement. Seven hundred eight Spanish adolescents participated in the study. The mean age was 13.00 (SD = 0.95; range = 12–14 years). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the effects among variables for boys and girls. Results showed the role of benevolent sexism and hostile sexism in perceived academic achievement, as well as the mediating role of aggression in the relationship between sexism and perceived academic achievement. Findings and implications are discussed to assess measures for establishing intervention programs and educating adolescents in a non-sexist manner.

Educational Attainment and Personality Are Genetically Intertwined

Heritable variance in psychological traits may reflect genetic and biological processes that are not necessarily specific to these particular traits but pertain to a broader range of phenotypes. We tested the possibility that the personality domains of the five-factor model and their 30 facets, as rated by people themselves and their knowledgeable informants, reflect polygenic influences that have been previously associated with educational attainment. In a sample of more than 3,000 adult Estonians, education polygenic scores (EPSs), which are interpretable as estimates of molecular-genetic propensity for education, were correlated with various personality traits, particularly from the neuroticism and openness domains. The correlations of personality traits with phenotypic educational attainment closely mirrored their correlations with EPS. Moreover, EPS predicted an aggregate personality trait tailored to capture the maximum amount of variance in educational attainment almost as strongly as it predicted the attainment itself. We discuss possible interpretations and implications of these findings.

Externalizing problems in childhood and adolescence predict subsequent educational achievement but for different genetic and environmental reasons

BACKGROUND

Childhood behavior problems predict subsequent educational achievement; however, little research has examined the etiology of these links using a longitudinal twin design. Moreover, it is unknown whether genetic and environmental innovations provide incremental prediction for educational achievement from childhood to adolescence.

METHODS

We examined genetic and environmental influences on parental ratings of behavior problems across childhood (age 4) and adolescence (ages 12 and 16) as predictors of educational achievement at age 16 using a longitudinal classical twin design.

RESULTS

Shared-environmental influences on anxiety, conduct problems, and peer problems at age 4 predicted educational achievement at age 16. Genetic influences on the externalizing behaviors of conduct problems and hyperactivity at age 4 predicted educational achievement at age 16. Moreover, novel genetic and (to a lesser extent) nonshared-environmental influences acting on conduct problems and hyperactivity emerged at ages 12 and 16, adding to the genetic prediction from age 4.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings demonstrate that genetic and shared-environmental factors underpinning behavior problems in early childhood predict educational achievement in midadolescence. These findings are consistent with the notion that early-childhood behavior problems reflect the initiation of a life-course persistent trajectory with concomitant implications for social attainment. However, we also find evidence that genetic and nonshared-environment innovations acting on behavior problems have implications for subsequent educational achievement, consistent with recent work arguing that adolescence represents a sensitive period for socioaffective development.

The high heritability of educational achievement reflects many genetically influenced traits, not just intelligence

Because educational achievement at the end of compulsory schooling represents a major tipping point in life, understanding its causes and correlates is important for individual children, their families, and society. Here we identify the general ingredients of educational achievement using a multivariate design that goes beyond intelligence to consider a wide range of predictors, such as self-efficacy, personality, and behavior problems, to assess their independent and joint contributions to educational achievement. We use a genetically sensitive design to address the question of why educational achievement is so highly heritable. We focus on the results of a United Kingdom-wide examination, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), which is administered at the end of compulsory education at age 16. GCSE scores were obtained for 13,306 twins at age 16, whom we also assessed contemporaneously on 83 scales that were condensed to nine broad psychological domains, including intelligence, self-efficacy, personality, well-being, and behavior problems. The mean of GCSE core subjects (English, mathematics, science) is more heritable (62%) than the nine predictor domains (35-58%). Each of the domains correlates significantly with GCSE results, and these correlations are largely mediated genetically. The main finding is that, although intelligence accounts for more of the heritability of GCSE than any other single domain, the other domains collectively account for about as much GCSE heritability as intelligence. Together with intelligence, these domains account for 75% of the heritability of GCSE. We conclude that the high heritability of educational achievement reflects many genetically influenced traits, not just intelligence.

Scholastic Success

The aim of the current study was to examine the role of fluid intelligence, personality traits, and emotional intelligence (EI) in predicting female Year 9 students’ grade point average (GPA) and to determine whether any differences in scholastic performance were related to differences in EI or Personality. Two-hundred and forty-three female secondary students who were enrolled in Year 9 (age: M = 14.63 years, SD = 0.49) completed the Adolescent Swinburne University EI Test, Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, and the Mini International Personality Item Pool (Mini-IPIP) and a GPA was calculated from the core subjects. The results revealed that higher GPAs were related to higher levels of Emotional Management and Control (EMC), Conscientiousness, and lower levels of Extraversion. The stepwise regression analysis revealed that variation in GPA was accounted for by IQ (21.8%), Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and EMC. It was concluded that the consistent predictive efficacy of EI skills in relation to scholastic outcomes, although modest in comparison to IQ, should be considered important, especially in the context of students achieving grades appropriate to their intellect across their schooling experience.

Returns to education: what do twin studies control?

The current article examines the assumptions of the MZ co-twin control method that has been applied in attempts to gain more accurate estimates of the returns to education by naturally 'controlling' for individual differences on which MZ twins are matched. The current study examined 1738 MZ and 926 DZ twins from Minnesota, including 133 pairs of MZ and 101 pairs of DZ twins discordant for university attendance. They were assessed prospectively on personality, intelligence, GPA, and academic motivation; a subset also has reported income at age 29. MZ twins discordant for university attendance differed significantly and prospectively on verbal IQ, personality traits, and GPA. While MZ co-twin control studies can provide more accurate estimates of the returns to education than analyses of single individuals, these studies do not entirely obviate the need to control for differences between university students and non-students that predate university attendance and might account for income differentials and even non-monetary outcomes.

Do girls and boys perceive themselves as equally engaged in school? The results of an international study from 12 countries

This study examined gender differences in student engagement and academic performance in school. Participants included 3420 students (7th, 8th, and 9th graders) from Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results indicated that, compared to boys, girls reported higher levels of engagement in school and were rated higher by their teachers in academic performance. Student engagement accounted for gender differences in academic performance, but gender did not moderate the associations among student engagement, academic performance, or contextual supports. Analysis of multiple-group structural equation modeling revealed that perceptions of teacher support and parent support, but not peer support, were related indirectly to academic performance through student engagement. This partial mediation model was invariant across gender. The findings from this study enhance the understanding about the contextual and personal factors associated with girls' and boys' academic performance around the world.

Environmental adversity and increasing genetic risk for externalizing disorders

CONTEXT

Studies of gene-environment interplay in the development of psychiatric and substance use disorders are rapidly accumulating. However, few attempts have been made to integrate findings and to articulate general mechanisms of gene-environment influence in the emergence of psychopathology.

OBJECTIVE

To identify patterns of gene-environment interplay between externalizing disorders (antisocial behavior and substance use) and several environmental risk factors.

DESIGN

We used quantitative genetic models to examine how genetic and environmental risk for externalizing disorders changes as a function of environmental context.

SETTING

Participants were recruited from the community and took part in a daylong assessment at a university laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS

The sample consisted of 1315 male and female twin pairs participating in the assessment of the Minnesota Twin Family Study at age 17 years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Multiple measures and informants were used to construct a composite of externalizing disorders and composite measures of 6 environmental risk factors, including academic achievement and engagement, antisocial and prosocial peer affiliations, mother-child and father-child relationship problems, and stressful life events.

RESULTS

A significant gene x environment interaction was detected between each environmental risk factor and externalizing such that greater environmental adversity was associated with increased genetic risk for externalizing.

CONCLUSIONS

In the context of environmental adversity, genetic factors become more important in the etiology of externalizing disorders. The consistency of the results further suggests a general mechanism of environmental influence on externalizing disorders regardless of the specific form of the environmental risk.