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The socio‐economic gradient in children's reading skills and the role of genetics
Author(s) -
Jerrim John,
Vignoles Anna,
Lingam Raghu,
Friend Angela
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1002/berj.3143
Subject(s) - reading (process) , longitudinal study , psychology , developmental psychology , test (biology) , socioeconomic status , sample (material) , sociology , biology , political science , demography , population , medicine , paleontology , chemistry , pathology , chromatography , law
By the time children leave primary school there is a large socio‐economic gap in their reading proficiency. There are a number of potential explanations for this socio‐economic gap and in this paper we investigate the role of three particular genes and gene–environment interactions in determining children's reading skills, using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children ( ALSPAC ) dataset. We find that whilst these genes are indeed correlated with reading outcomes, effect sizes are small and sensitive to the choice of test used and the sample selected. Our results suggest that these leading candidate genes can jointly explain just 2% of the socio‐economic gap in children's reading test scores. We conclude that the influence of these three genes on children's reading ability is limited, and their role in producing socio‐economic gaps in reading ability is even more limited still.