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Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement
We have previously shown that individual differences in educational achievement are highly heritable throughout compulsory education. After completing compulsory education at age 16, students in England can choose to continue to study for two years (A-levels) in preparation for applying to universit...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4910524/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27310577 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep26373 |
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author | Rimfeld, Kaili Ayorech, Ziada Dale, Philip S. Kovas, Yulia Plomin, Robert |
author_facet | Rimfeld, Kaili Ayorech, Ziada Dale, Philip S. Kovas, Yulia Plomin, Robert |
author_sort | Rimfeld, Kaili |
collection | PubMed |
description | We have previously shown that individual differences in educational achievement are highly heritable throughout compulsory education. After completing compulsory education at age 16, students in England can choose to continue to study for two years (A-levels) in preparation for applying to university and they can freely choose which subjects to study. Here, for the first time, we show that choosing to do A-levels and the choice of subjects show substantial genetic influence, as does performance after two years studying the chosen subjects. Using a UK-representative sample of 6584 twin pairs, heritability estimates were 44% for choosing to do A-levels and 52–80% for choice of subject. Achievement after two years was also highly heritable (35–76%). The findings that DNA differences substantially affect differences in appetites as well as aptitudes suggest a genetic way of thinking about education in which individuals actively create their own educational experiences in part based on their genetic propensities. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4910524 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-49105242016-06-17 Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement Rimfeld, Kaili Ayorech, Ziada Dale, Philip S. Kovas, Yulia Plomin, Robert Sci Rep Article We have previously shown that individual differences in educational achievement are highly heritable throughout compulsory education. After completing compulsory education at age 16, students in England can choose to continue to study for two years (A-levels) in preparation for applying to university and they can freely choose which subjects to study. Here, for the first time, we show that choosing to do A-levels and the choice of subjects show substantial genetic influence, as does performance after two years studying the chosen subjects. Using a UK-representative sample of 6584 twin pairs, heritability estimates were 44% for choosing to do A-levels and 52–80% for choice of subject. Achievement after two years was also highly heritable (35–76%). The findings that DNA differences substantially affect differences in appetites as well as aptitudes suggest a genetic way of thinking about education in which individuals actively create their own educational experiences in part based on their genetic propensities. Nature Publishing Group 2016-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4910524/ /pubmed/27310577 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep26373 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
spellingShingle | Article Rimfeld, Kaili Ayorech, Ziada Dale, Philip S. Kovas, Yulia Plomin, Robert Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement |
title | Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement |
title_full | Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement |
title_fullStr | Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement |
title_full_unstemmed | Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement |
title_short | Genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement |
title_sort | genetics affects choice of academic subjects as well as achievement |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4910524/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27310577 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep26373 |
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