Task orientation, parental warmth and SES account for a significant proportion of the shared environmental variance in general cognitive ability in early childhood: evidence from a twin study.
Prior research suggests shared environmental influences on cognitive performance are important in early childhood. However, few studies have attempted to identify the factors comprising this shared environmental variance. To address this issue, we examined the covariance between task orientation, parental warmth, socioeconomic status and general cognitive ability in a British twin study of 125 pairs of identical and same-sex fraternal twins. Task orientation correlated r =.41 with general cognitive ability Bivariate genetic analyses suggested that this correlation was mediated by shared environmental influences. Additional analyses suggested that SES and parental warmth mediated about two-thirds of the shared environmental covariance between task engagement and cognitive skills.
Department of Biobehavioral Health, Center for Developmental and Health Genetics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802, USA. sap27@psu.edu
Stephen A
SA
Petrill
Kirby
K
Deater-Deckard
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012923:Social Class; D013195:Stanford-Binet Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018433:Twin Studies as Topic; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic