Behavioural Genetics for Education

by Kovas, Yulia; Malykh, Sergey; Gaysina, Darya

• ISBN13: 9781137437310
• ISBN10: 1137437316
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-03-23
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Educational environments interact with children's unique genetic profiles, leading to wide individual differences in learning ability, motivation, and achievement in different academic subjects – even when children study with the same teacher, attend the same school and follow the same curriculum. This book considers how education can benefit from the recent progress in genetically informative research. The book provides new insights into the origins of individual differences in education traits such as cognitive abilities and disabilities; motivation and personality; behavioural and emotional problems; social functioning; well-being, and academic achievement. Written and edited by international interdisciplinary experts, this book will be of interest to teachers, parents, educational and developmental psychologists, policy makers and researchers in different fields working on educationally-relevant issues.

Author Biography

Yulia Kovas is Professor of Genetics and Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK where she directs the International Laboratory (InLab). She directs the Laboratory for Cognitive Investigations and Behavioral Genetics, Tomsk State University, Russia. She co-directs the Russian-British laboratory for Behavioural Genetics, Psychological institute (RAE) and leads the mathematics research direction in the Twins Early Development Study, King's College, London, UK.

Sergey Malykh is Director of Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, Russia. He directs the Laboratory for Developmental Behavioral Genetics and co-directs the Russian-British laboratory for Behavioural Genetics, Psychological institute of RAE, Russia.

Darya Gaysina is Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, UK where she leads the interdisciplinary research program in Genetics and Psychopathology. She also contributes to the research program of the Rudd Centre for Adoption Research and Practice, University of Sussex, UK.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Robert Plomin

Introduction from the Editors

1. How Genetics Can Help Education; Yulia Kovas, Tatiana Tikhomirova, Fatos Selita, Maria G. Tosto and Sergey B. Malykh

2. Gene-environment Interplay and Individual Differences in Psychological Traits; Philipp Barsky and Darya Gaysina

3. Gene-environment Correlations in the Context of Parenting and Peer Relationships; Jeffrey Henry, Michel Boivin and Mara Brendgen

4. Behavioural Genetic Studies of Reading and Mathematics Skills; Stephen A. Petrill

5. Studying Rare Genetic Syndromes as a Method of Investigating Aetiology of Normal Variation in Educationally Relevant Traits; Maja Rodic, Darya Gaysina, Sophia Docherty, Sergey B. Malykh, Kaili Rimfeld, Robert Plomin and Yulia Kovas

6. Self in the Mirror of Behavioural Genetics: Reflections from Twin Studies on Self-esteem and Self-concept; Yu L. L. Luo and Huajian Ca

7. The Nature and Nurture of Wellbeing; Claire M.A. Haworth

8. Molecular Genetic Investigations of Personality: From Candidate Genes to Genome Wide Associations; Anastasia Kazantseva, Sergey B. Malykh, and Elza Khusnutdinova

9. Behavioural Genetic Studies of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology; Elena Gindina and Darya Gaysina

10. Genetic Research on Sleep, Sleep Disturbances and Associated Difficulties; Alice M. Gregory, Michael J. Parsons, Nicola L. Barclay, Philip Gehrman and Rachael E. O'Leary

11. The Role of Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors in the Aetiology of Suicidal Behaviour; Aigul Zainullina, Adelina Valiullina and Elza Khusnutdinova

12. Genetically Informative Investigations of Neurophysiological Traits; Sergey B. Malykh

13. Conclusion: Behavioural Genomics and Education; Yulia Kovas and Sergey B. Malykh