Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Genetics determine academic success in UK

These results show, for the first time, that genetic factors influence academic choice, not just achievement. Whether or not 16-year-olds choose to continue their studies at A-level in preparation for university is influenced in equal measure by genetic (44%) and shared environmental factors (47%). Choosing specific A-level subjects is more heritable (50% for humanities, 60% for STEM) and less influenced by shared environment (18% for humanities, 23% for STEM). Genetic factors affect subject choice across a wide range of school subjects, including second language learning, mathematics and psychology.

The research shows that a genetic score comprising 20,000 DNA variants explains almost 10 per cent of the differences between children's educational attainment at the age of 16. DNA alone therefore provides a much better prediction of academic achievement than gender or even 'grit', a personality trait thought to measure perseverance and passion for long-term goals.

Heritability—the proportion of variation in a trait within a population that is explained by genetic differences—ranges from about one-third for religiousness to about three-quarters for IQ, with personality, education level and even income falling somewhere in the middle. Genetic influence on human behavior is so pervasive that it has led the psychologist Eric Turkheimer to coin the “first law of behavior genetics”: All human behavioral traits are heritable. (His second law goes further in arguing that: The effect of being raised in the same family is smaller than the effect of genes.)