Neighborhood is a key context where children learn to process social information; however, the field has largely overlooked the ways children's individual characteristics might be moderated by neighborhood effects. We examined 1,030 six- to 11-year-olds (48.7% female; 82% White) twin pairs oversampled for neighborhood disadvantage from the Twin…

The interplay of genetic and environmental factors behind cognitive development has preoccupied multiple fields of science and sparked heated debates over the decades. Here we tested the hypothesis that developmental genes rely heavily on cognitive challenges - as opposed to natural maturation. Starting with a polygenic score (cogPGS) that…

Despite the importance of self-control for well-being and adjustment, its development from early childhood to early adolescence has been relatively understudied. We addressed the development of mother-reported self-control in what is likely the largest and longest longitudinal twin study of the topic to this day (N = 1889 individual children with…

In this article, it is argued that it makes sense to define and distinguish three levels of human intelligence: intelligence as genotypical potential, intelligence as actualised in environmental interaction, and intelligence as measured by tests (IQ). This raises the questions of what is meant by the term "intelligence as potential", and…

This study tested implications of new genetic discoveries for understanding the association between parental investment and children's educational attainment. A novel design matched genetic data from 860 British mothers and their children with home-visit measures of parenting: the E-Risk Study. Three findings emerged. First, both mothers' and…

The article takes as its starting point a new wave of researchers who use concepts such as "hybridity" and "multiplicity" in a bid to move the study of childhood beyond the strictures of what Lee and Motzkau call "bio-social dualism", whereby the division between the "natural child" of developmental psychology and the "social child" of…

Background: The development of Bronfenbrenner's bio-social-ecological systems model of human development parallels advances made to the theory of resilience that progressively moved from a more individual (micro) focus on traits to a multisystemic understanding of person-environment reciprocal processes. Methods: This review uses…

Background: Families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) report more negative family relationships than families of children without ADHD. Questions remain as to the role of genetic factors underlying associations between family relationships and children's ADHD symptoms, and the role of children's ADHD…

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was the ultimate child prodigy. It is said that Mozart, after attending a service at the Vatican, wrote down an entire sacred piece of music after one hearing. There are countless examples of the amazing feats that Mozart accomplished through his childhood, not to mention his huge compositional output through…

In this paper we argue that moral behaviour is largely situation-specific. Genetic make-up, neurobiological factors, attachment security and rearing experiences have only limited influence on individual differences in moral performance. Moral behaviour does not develop in a linear and cumulative fashion and individual morality is not stable across…

Objective: To explain the differential course of anxiety and depression in individuals from childhood to adulthood by examining age-related changes in the genetic and environmental etiology of anxious and depressive symptoms. Method: A sample of 1470, 1839, and 2023 Dutch twins aged 12, 14, and 16 years reported on symptoms of anxious depression…

Child and adult speakers of English have different ideas of what "or" means in ordinary statements of the form "A or B". Even more far-reaching differences between children and adults are found in other languages. This tells us that young children do not learn what "or" means by watching how adults use "or". An alternative is to suppose that…

Environmental or genetic influences, or both could account for the increased risk of divorce among the offspring of separated parents. Previous studies have used covariates to statistically control for confounds, but the present research is the first genetically informed study of the topic. The investigation used the Children of Twins Design with…

A behavioral genetic analysis of general writing ability was conducted using teacher assessments based on UK National Curriculum criteria for a sample of 3296 same-sex pairs of 7-year-old twins. Writing was highly heritable within the normal range (0.66) and at the low extreme (0.70). Environmental influences were almost all non-shared, with…

The authors assessed 2,502 ten-year-old children, members of 1,251 pairs of twins, on a Web-based battery of problems from 5 diverse aspects of mathematics assessed as part of the U.K. national curriculum. This 1st genetic study into the etiology of variation in different domains of mathematics showed that the heritability estimates were moderate…