by Josh Forman, Head of Science, Education & Outreach
It turns out that reading ability is, at least in part, genetic.
For all of those who have either struggled with the guilt of ‘not enough’, or as a parent, attempted to encourage a child to ‘read, read, read’ it is not just that you, or they, don’t like it. There is a reason as to why some people just don’t like reading that much.
A 2020 study conducted in the Netherlands looked at the reading habits and abilities of twins – both identical and non-identical. Twin studies have been fundamental in understanding the relationship between genetics and the environment since pretty much the start of genetics as a scientific discipline. This is because identical twins have identical DNA. So, any differences between them can be considered as environmental, whereas similarities would be attributed to their DNA.
It turns out that reading skill development is a perfect example of nature vs nurture. That is not to say that someone’s educational outcomes or reading ability are predetermined by their genes – far from it. They provide an insight into how and why people react and develop differently with respects to reading.
We’ve known for a long time that ‘reading’ runs in the family. Generally, you’re a family of book lovers, or you’re not. However, this could be either nature or nurture. Is it the genes, or the fact that parents read a lot and there are books around that make a child into a book lover or hater?
A 2017 study into 37 pairs of twins found that there was a 59% genetic impact on reading. This was as well as a shared environmental estimate of 15% impact, and an average nonshared environmental estimate of 29% (Little et al., 2017b). Each factor can be between 0–100%. This suggests that even within the same classroom, with the same teacher, the same instruction, two students will differ in their reading skills. This does also have an impact on reading disabilities, such as dyslexia (which is a very complex interaction of both genes and environment).
The world of behavioural genetics has moved beyond nature vs nurture in more modern times, to focus more on the interaction between genes and environment – we now think of them working together, rather than in competition or either/or.
These interactions take three forms. Passive gene-environment correlations, which are when inherited genes influence the environment. In this scenario, it could be that good reading skills mean that parents have a large library, and good reading spaces in the home – so they pass on the genes and the environment.
Evocative gene-environments are when a genetic trait puts an individual in the position to engage environmentally such as a good reader (genetic) is asked to read aloud in class (environmental).
The third relationship is active gene-environmental interaction. This is when a genetic predisposition directly impacts a decision; such as someone that struggles with reading (genetic) avoiding reading at all costs and playing a game instead.
So, while we settle into a new school year, and a child is resistant to reading, or you’re getting used to winter’s arrival and you want to start reading, give yourself the consideration that it may not be as easy for you or your child, as it is for others.
Based on Estrera S, Lancaster HS, Hart SA. Genetics and the Science of Reading. Read Leag J. 2023 May-Jun;4(2):18-26. PMID: 38282722; PMCID: PMC10812881. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10812881/#:~:text=A%20paper%20that%20summarized%20the,et%20al.%2C%202017b).
