Does genetic variance for cognitive abilities account for genetic variance in educational achievement and occupational status? A study of twins reared apart and twins reared together

摘要

Studies of brothers and twins have shown that about 50 per cent of the variance in edu- cational achievement and 40 per cent of the variance in occupational status reflects between-family variance. About half of the between-family variance for educational achievement and even more for occupational status is due to genetic effects and the remainder is due to sharing the same environ- ment. With data on 35 pairs of male twins reared apart and 56 pairs reared together we investigated the extent to which genetic variance in SES can be attributed to genetic variance for cognitive abili- ties.