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Intelligence and Achievement: A Behavioral Genetic Perspective

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Abstract

Understanding the etiology and relationship between standardized intelligence and academic achievement tests is essential, given their ever-increasing role in American education. Behavioral genetic studies have examined the genetic and environmental etiology of intelligence, academic achievement, and their relationship. Results suggest that genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences have an impact on intelligence and academic achievement. Behavioral genetic studies also suggest that the importance of genes may vary as a function of age. Other studies suggest that genes drive the correlation and that the nonshared environment drives the discrepancy between measures of intelligence and achievement. Implications for the identification of intellectually and academically relevant environmental influences are discussed.

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Petrill, S.A., Wilkerson, B. Intelligence and Achievement: A Behavioral Genetic Perspective. Educational Psychology Review 12, 185–199 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009023415516

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