Where you live matters: visualizing environmental effects on reading attainment

Jeffrey A Shero; Florina Erbeli; Zoe E Reed; Rasheda Haughbrook; Oliver S P Davis; Sara A Hart; Jeanette E Taylor

doi:10.1111/jcpp.13909

Where you live matters: visualizing environmental effects on reading attainment

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2023 Oct 28:10.1111/jcpp.13909. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13909. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jeffrey A Shero¹, Florina Erbeli², Zoe E Reed^{3

4}, Rasheda Haughbrook⁵, Oliver S P Davis^{3

4

6

7}, Sara A Hart^{5

8}, Jeanette E Taylor⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
² Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
³ School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
⁴ MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁶ Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
⁷ The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK.
⁸ Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.

PMID: 37897063
PMCID: PMC11055940 (available on 2025-04-28)
DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13909

Abstract

Background: The way in which socioeconomic status (SES) moderates the etiology of reading attainment has been explored many times, with past work often finding that genetic influences are suppressed under conditions of socioeconomic deprivation and more fully realized under conditions of socioeconomic advantage: a gene-SES interaction. Additionally, past work has pointed toward the presence of gene-location interactions, with the relative influence of genes and environment varying across geographic regions of the same country/state.

Method: This study investigates the extent to which SES and geographical location interact to moderate the genetic and environmental components of reading attainment. Utilizing data from 2,135 twin pairs in Florida (mean age 13.82 years, range 10.71-17.77), the study operationalized reading attainment as reading comprehension scores from a statewide test and SES as household income. We applied a spatial twin analysis procedure to investigate how twin genetic and environmental estimates vary by geographic location. We then expanded this analysis to explore how the moderating role of SES on said genetic and environmental influences also varied by geographic location.

Results: A gene-SES interaction was found, with heritability of reading being suppressed in lower- (23%) versus higher-SES homes (78%). The magnitude of the moderating parameters were not consistent by location, however, and ranged from -0.10 to 0.10 for the moderating effect on genetic influences, and from -0.30 to 0.05 for the moderating effect on environmental influences. For smaller areas and those with less socioeconomic variability, the magnitude of the genetic moderating parameter was high, giving rise to more fully realized genetic influences on reading there.

Conclusions: SES significantly influences reading variability. However, a child's home location matters in both the overall etiology and how strongly SES moderates said etiologies. These results point toward the presence of multiple significant environmental factors that simultaneously, and inseparably, influence the underlying etiology of reading attainment.

Keywords: gene-environment interaction; geographic location; reading attainment; socioeconomic status; twin analyses.

Abstract

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