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Chaotic homes and school achievement : a twin study.
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Hanscombe, Ken B., Haworth, Claire M. A., Davis, Oliver S. P., Jaffee, Sara R. and Plomin, Robert (2011) Chaotic homes and school achievement : a twin study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Volume 52 (Number 11). pp. 1212-1220. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02421.x ISSN 0021-9630.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02421.x
Abstract
Background: Chaotic homes predict poor school performance. Given that it is known that genes affect both children’s experience of household chaos and their school achievement, to what extent is the relationship between high levels of noise and environmental confusion in the home, and children’s school performance, mediated by heritable child effects? This is the first study to explore the genetic and environmental pathways between household chaos and academic performance.
Method: Children’s perceptions of family chaos at ages 9 and 12 and their school performance at age 12 were assessed in more than 2,300 twin pairs. The use of child-specific measures in a multivariate genetic analysis made it possible to investigate the genetic and environmental origins of the covariation between children’s experience of chaos in the home and their school achievement.
Results: Children’s experience of family chaos and their school achievement were significantly correlated in the expected negative direction (r = −.26). As expected, shared environmental factors explained a large proportion (63%) of the association. However, genetic factors accounted for a significant proportion (37%) of the association between children’s experience of household chaos and their school performance.
Conclusions: The association between chaotic homes and poor performance in school, previously assumed to be entirely environmental in origin, is in fact partly genetic. How children’s home environment affects their academic achievement is not simply in the direction environment [RIGHTWARDS ARROW] child [RIGHTWARDS ARROW] outcome. Instead, genetic factors that influence children’s experience of the disordered home environment also affect how well they do at school. The relationship between the child, their environment and their performance at school is complex: both genetic and environmental factors play a role.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry | ||||
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||
ISSN: | 0021-9630 | ||||
Official Date: | November 2011 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 52 | ||||
Number: | Number 11 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 1212-1220 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02421.x | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) |
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