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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bishop DVM (2001) Genetic influences on language impairment and literacy problems in children: same or different? J Child Psychol Psyc 42(2):189–198
Byrne B, Wadsworth S, Corley R, Samuelsson S, Quain P, DeFries JC et al (2005) Longitudinal twin study of early literacy development: preschool and kindergarten phases. Sci Stud Read 9(3):219–235
Byrne B, Olson RK, Samuelsson S, Wadsworth S, Corley R, DeFries JC, Willcutt E (2006) Genetic and environmental influences on early literacy. J Res Read 29(1):1–10
Byrne B, Coventry WL, Olson RK, Hulslander J, Wadsworth S, DeFries JC et al (2008) A behaviour-genetic analysis of orthographic learning, spelling and decoding. J Res Read 31(1):8–21
Byrne B, Coventry WL, Olson RK, Samuelsson S, Corley R, Willcutt EG et al (2009) Genetic and environmental influences on aspects of literacy and language in early childhood: continuity and change from preschool to grade 2. J Neurolinguist 22(3):219–236
Byrne B, Coventry WL, Olson RK, Wadsworth S, Samuelsson S, Petrill SA et al (2010) “Teacher Effects” in early literacy development: evidence from a study of twins. J Educ Psychol 102(1):32–42
Cherny SS, Cardon LR, Fulker DW, Defries JC (1992) Differential heritability across levels of cognitive ability. Behav Genet 22(2):153–162
Davis CJ, Gayán J, Knopik VS, Smith SD, Cardon LR, Pennington BF et al (2001) Etiology of reading difficulties and rapid naming: the Colorado twin study of reading disability. Behav Genet 31(6):625–635
De Fries JC, Fulker DW (1988) Multiple regression analysis of twin data: etiology of deviant scores versus individual differences. Acta Genet Med Gemeltol 37:205–216
DeFries JC, Fulker DW (1985) Multiple regression analysis of twin data. Behav Genet 15:467–473
Falconer DS (1960) Introduction to quantitative genetics
Friend A, DeFries JC, Olson RK, Pennington B, Harlaar N, Byrne B et al (2009) Heritability of high reading ability and its interaction with parental education. Behav Genet 39(4):427–436
Hayiou-Thomas ME, Harlaar N, Dale PS, Plomin R (2006) Genetic and environmental mediation of the prediction from preschool language and nonverbal ability to 7-year reading. J Res Read 29(1):50–74
Hindson B, Byrne B, Fielding-Barnsley R, Newman C, Hine DW, Shankweiler D (2005) Assessment and early instruction of preschool children at risk for reading disability. J Educ Psychol 97(4):687–704
Koenker R, Ng P (2005) Inequality constrained quantile regression. Sankhyā: The Indian Journal of Statistics 67(2):418–440
Light JG, DeFries JC (1995) Comorbidity of reading and mathematics disabilities: genetic and environmental etiologies. J Learn Disabil 28(2):96–106
Livingstone L, Coventry WL, Corley R, Samuelsson S, Olson R, Byrne B (2016) Does the environment have an enduring effect on ADHD? A longitudinal study of monozygotic twin differences in children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 44(8):1487–1501
Logan JAR, Petrill SA, Hart SA, Schatschneider C, Thompson LA, Deater-Deckard K et al (2012) Heritability across the distribution: an application of quantile regression. Behav Genet 42(2):256–267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-011-9497-7
Nichols RC, Bilbro WC Jr (1966) The diagnosis of twin Zygosity. Hum Hered 16:265–275. https://doi.org/10.1159/000151973
Olson RK, Byrne B, Samuelsson S (2009) Reconciling strong genetic and strong environmental influences on individual differences and deficits in reading ability. In: Ken P, McCardle P (eds) How children learn to read: current issues and new directions in the integration of cognition, neurobiology and genetics of reading and dyslexia research and practice. Taylor & Francis, New York, pp 215–233
Samuelsson S, Byrne B, Quain P, Wadsworth S, Corley R, DeFries JC et al (2005) Environmental and genetic influences on prereading skills in Australia, Scandinavia, and the United States. J Educ Psychol 97(4):705–722
Samuelsson S, Olson RK, Wadsworth S, Corley R, DeFries JC, Willcutt E et al (2007) Genetic and environmental influences on prereading skills and early reading and spelling development in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia. Read Writ 20(1–2):51–75
Samuelsson S, Byrne B, Olson RK, Hulslander J, Wadsworth S, Corley R et al (2008) Response to early literacy instruction in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia: a behavioral-genetic analysis. Learn Individ Differ 18(3):289–295
Spinath FM, Price TS, Dale PS, Plomin R (2004) The genetic and environmental origins of language disability and ability. Child Dev 75(2):445–454
Torgesen JK, Wagner RK, Rashotte CA (1999) TOWRE, test of word reading efficiency: examiner’s manual. PRO-ED, Austin
Willcutt EG, Betjemann RS, Wadsworth SJ, Samuelsson S, Corley R, DeFries JC et al (2007) Preschool twin study of the relation between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and prereading skills. Read Writ 20(1–2):103–125
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.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Dipti McGowan, Callie W. Little, William L. Coventry, Robin Corley, Richard K. Olson, Stefan Samuelsson, and Brian Byrne declares no conflicts of interest.
Ethical Approval
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.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.
Additional information
Handling Editor: Stephen A. Petrill, Ph.D.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
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
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-019-09966-7