Genes determine success at school - but differently than we think

I became a mum two years ago. Even during my pregnancy and since the birth of my daughter, family members, paediatricians and newspaper articles have inundated me with advice on how to optimally support my daughter's development.

If I talk to her a lot, if I read to her regularly , if I visit museums and libraries with her - that's the advice - I will increase her chances of succeeding in life. Behind this advice is the widespread belief that parents influence their children's development through their behaviour.

In addition to my role as a mother, I am also a researcher. In my work, I focus on the influence of upbringing and genetic predisposition on child development. I therefore know that upbringing is not the only way in which parents influence the development of their children. Another factor is genetic make-up. Parents pass on part of their genes to their children, and these have an influence on how children develop - from school success to the risk of behavioural disorders.

The importance of genes first became known through adoption and twin studies, in which it was shown, for example, that identical twins adopted separately exhibited considerable similarities in their behaviour despite their different family environments. For some years now, it has also been possible to directly measure variants in genetic material and investigate their role in human behaviour.

How do genes and environment interact?

When there is a public debate about whether upbringing or genes have a stronger effect, the two factors are often portrayed as competitors: Upbringing versus genes. The reality is quite different. It is likely that the family environment and genetic predispositions influence a child's development in close interaction.

The prevailing view of the role of genes in development is one-sided: it is often assumed that genes exert their influence by only affecting the biology and behaviour of the person who has inherited the genes. An example of this would be that my daughter's genes influence the development of her brain and this would have consequences for her behaviour.

Plant and environment are closely interwoven

However, recent studies show us that genes also exert an indirect influence by influencing the behaviour of the people who surround a child. My own genes, for example, influence my behaviour towards my daughter in a way that shapes her development. In other words, genes and upbringing exert their influence together in a complex interplay.

To find out more about this interplay between genes and parental behaviour, my colleagues and I recently studied a group of 860 British mothers and children. Our team visited these families regularly, starting when the children were five years old and continuing into early adulthood.

During childhood, comprehensive data was collected on the mothers' behaviour towards their children, such as whether the mothers encouraged their children mentally, for example by reading books to them, and whether they behaved sensitively and lovingly towards their children, for example by holding them in their arms. When the children reached the age of 18, we collected information about their previous school success.

In addition to this data, we measured gene variants in the genetic material of the mothers and children. We focussed on a combination of several million variants that had been associated with educational success in previous studies: The study participants with a greater number of these gene variants achieved higher school success - although their advantage was small, it was clearly measurable.

Mothers who were genetically more predisposed to educational success also supported their children to a greater extent.
to a greater extent.

The results of our analyses show a close link between upbringing and genes, which together influence children's success at school. The mothers who were genetically more predisposed to educational success also showed slight but measurable tendencies in their behaviour to favour their children's success at school.

This was particularly evident in the fact that they supported their children intellectually to a greater extent. This had consequences for later school success: the children of these mothers attended school longer and had slightly better grades. Remarkably, the influence of maternal genes on children's school success was independent of whether children had inherited these genes from their mothers.

In other words, children of mothers whose genes favoured educational success had an advantage that went beyond inheriting these genes, because they also grew up in a more supportive family environment.

What are the findings of this study?

In summary, we can show that genes influence children's behaviour not only through the known processes of inheritance, but also indirectly through the environment, for example the behaviour of the parents. However, it is known that children's environment can also be positively influenced by additional supportive measures, such as high-quality external childcare, school support and parenting courses. One conclusion of our study is therefore that it is important to make such services easily accessible to all families in order to ensure equal opportunities for every child, regardless of genetic background.

Another conclusion of our study is that disposition and environment are much more closely intertwined than is often assumed. In order to better understand child development, it is therefore important to analyse both factors together.