Exploring individual differences in academic achievement : genetics, personality and the school environment

2 Acknowledgements 3 Author declaration 4 Index of figures 7 Index of tables 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 10 Background 10 Personality and academic outcomes 11 School-wide environments and achievement: school type 13 School-wide environments and achievement: school quality 14 Achievement beyond compulsory education 15 Method 16 Sample 16 Measures 17 Twin studies 20 Genome-wide polygenic scores 24 Overview of the thesis 25 References 27 Chapter 2: Polygenic score for educational attainment captures DNA variants shared between personality-related traits and educational achievement 36 Abstract 37 Introduction 37 Methods 43 Sample 43 Genotyping 44 Measures 44 Statistical analysis 55 Results 57 Correlations between personality-related domains and academic achievement 5737 Introduction 37 Methods 43 Sample 43 Genotyping 44 Measures 44 Statistical analysis 55 Results 57 Correlations between personality-related domains and academic achievement 57 Polygenic score prediction of personality and motivation 57 Controlling for general cognitive ability 58 Multiple regression analyses predicting polygenic scores from cognitive ability, personality and motivation 60 Polygenic score prediction of covariation 62 Discussion 65 Acknowledgements 68 References 69 Chapter 3: Differences in exam performance between pupils attending selective and non-selective schools mirror the genetic differences between them 77 Abstract 78 Introduction 78 Results 79 Polygenic score differences between school types 79 Associations between EduYears GPS and selection factors 79 GCSE differences 79 Controlling for selection factors 80 Discussion 81 Methods 8278 Introduction 78 Results 79 Polygenic score differences between school types 79 Associations between EduYears GPS and selection factors 79 GCSE differences 79 Controlling for selection factors 80 Discussion 81 Methods 82 6 Sample 82 Genotyping 82 Measures 82 Statistical analysis 82 Acknowledgements 83 References 84 Chapter 4: Ofsted secondary school quality is a poor predictor of student academic achievement and wellbeing 85 Abstract 86 Introduction 86 Results 89 Association between Ofsted Headline Quality Rating and achievement 89 Unique prediction of GCSE grades from Ofsted ratings 91 Associations between Ofsted ratings and students’ self-reported experience of the school environment and wellbeing 9286 Introduction 86 Results 89 Association between Ofsted Headline Quality Rating and achievement 89 Unique prediction of GCSE grades from Ofsted ratings 91 Associations between Ofsted ratings and students’ self-reported experience of the school environment and wellbeing 92 Discussion 94 Methods 97 Sample 97 Measures 97 Statistical analysis 100 Acknowledgements 101 References 102 Chapter 5: The genetics of university success 105 Abstract 106 Introduction 106 Results 109 Phenotypic analyses 109 Sensitivity analyses 109 Intraclass twin correlations 109 Twin analysis 110 Univariate genetic analysis 110 Multivariate genetic analysis 111 Polygenic score analysis 112 Discussion 114 Method 117 Participants 117 Measures 119 Statistical analysis 121 Acknowledgements 124 References 125 Chapter 6: General discussion, implications and future directions 129 Summary of findings 129 Limitations 130 Implications 136 Future directions 142 Conclusion 144 References 145 Appendices 149 Appendix 1: Supplementary material for Chapter 2 150 Appendix 2: Supplementary material for Chapter 3 164 Appendix 3: Supplementary material for Chapter 4 190 Appendix 4: Supplementary material for Chapter 5 208