Little Evidence That Socioeconomic Status Modifies Heritability of Literacy and Numeracy in Australia

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to moderate the influence of genes and the environment on cognitive ability, such that genetic influence is greater when SES is higher, and the shared environment is greater when SES is lower, but not in all Western countries. The effects of both family and school SES on the heritability of literacy and numeracy in Australian twins aged 8, 10, 12, and 14 years with 1,307, 1,235, 1,076, and 930 pairs at each age, respectively, were tested. Shared environmental influences on Grade 3 literacy were greater with low family SES, and no other moderating effects of SES were significant. These findings are contrasted with results from the United States and the United Kingdom.