title: Pleiotropy across academic subjects at the end of compulsory education.
abstract: Research has shown that genes play an important role in educational achievement. A key question is the extent to which the same genes affect different academic subjects before and after controlling for general intelligence. The present study investigated genetic and environmental influences on, and links between, the various subjects of the age-16 UK-wide standardized GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) examination results for 12,632 twins. Using the twin method that compares identical and non-identical twins, we found that all GCSE subjects were substantially heritable, and that various academic subjects correlated substantially both phenotypically and genetically, even after controlling for intelligence. Further evidence for pleiotropy in academic achievement was found using a method based directly on DNA from unrelated individuals. We conclude that performance differences for all subjects are highly heritable at the end of compulsory education and that many of the same genes affect different subjects independent of intelligence.
authors.affiliation: King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology &Neuroscience, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
authors.forename: Kaili
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rimfeld
authors.affiliation: 1] King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology &Neuroscience, London, SE5 8AF, UK [2] Goldsmiths, University of London, Department of Psychology, London, SE14 6NW, UK [3] Tomsk State University, Laboratory for Cognitive Investigations and Behavioural Genetics, Tomsk, 634050, Russia.
authors.forename: Yulia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kovas
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Philip S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.affiliation: King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology &Neuroscience, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plomin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004505:Education, Nonprofessional; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D006113:United Kingdom