Investigating Opinions about the Relevance of Genetic and Environmental Research in Education: The Role of Parental Status, Working in Education and Heritability Ratings

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Greenwood, Emma and Chapman, Robert. 2025. Investigating Opinions about the Relevance of Genetic and Environmental Research in Education: The Role of Parental Status, Working in Education and Heritability Ratings. Mind, Brain, and Education, 19(2), pp. 73-82. ISSN 1751-2271 [Article]

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.70005

Abstract or Description

Genetic research has a potentially increasing impact on educational practices. This study investigated attitudes towards the utility of genetic and environmental research in personalising education, with comparisons between parents/non-parents and educators/non-educators, as well as how these attitudes may relate to heritability ratings of educationally relevant traits (N = 6,304). Data was collected using the International Genetic Literacy and Attitudes Survey (iGLAS). Overall, participants endorsed environmental research more than genetic research to personalising education. Parents were slightly less likely to endorse genetic (but not environmental) research than non-parents. Educators tended to endorse environmental research over genetic research when compared to non-educators; however, effect sizes were minimal. Participants ranking educational traits as more heritable were more likely to endorse genetic (but not environmental) research in education. Future work should focus on promoting the importance of genetic and environmental research in education.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.70005

Data Access Statement:

The data presented in the current paper were drawn from a collection utilising the International Genetic Literacy and Attitudes Study (iGLAS). That collection received ethical approval from Goldsmiths, University of London on 10/10/2016, reference: PSY10102016. As collections with iGLAS are ongoing, the data used in this study are available upon request of the corresponding author.

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Psychology

Dates: