14 DAY TRIAL // A new analysis on the impact that genes have over academic success, led by Florida State criminologist, finds a link between low grades in adolescence and dopamine genes.
Basically, the renowned biosocial criminologist Kevin M. Beaver of The Florida State University, says that if the DNA has one or more of three specific dopamine gene variations, adolescents will have bad academic performances at least in one of the four key objects – English, math, history and science.
Beaver says that “dopaminergic genes affect GPA (Grade Point Average) because they have previously been linked to factors associated with academic performance, including adolescent delinquency, working memory, intelligence and cognitive abilities, and ADHD, among others.
“So, the genetic effect would operate indirectly via these other correlates to GPA and school performance.”
Beaver and the coauthors of the study gathered DNA and lifestyle data from a representative group of 2,500 US middle- and high-school students, followed from 1994 to 2008 in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
This research provides a better understanding of the genetic factors that influence academic performances during middle and high school.
The criminologist explains: “we found that as the number of certain dopaminergic gene variants increased, grade point averages decreased, and the difference was statistically significant.
“For example, the GPA of a student with specific variants of three dopaminergic genes might be around 2.8, versus a GPA of around 3.3 without the variants [and] that could mean the difference between being accepted into a college versus being rejected.
“Unfortunately, we know that students with lower GPAs are generally more likely to participate in antisocial or criminal activities, and less likely to attend college and earn comparatively higher salaries as a result.”
Also the variants of dopamine levels are linked to GPA on different subject areas, like the negative effect on English grades for students that have a single dopamine variant in a gene known as DAT1, and no effect whatsoever on math, history or science.
On the other side, a variant in the DRD2 gene gave lower grades in all four subjects, and students with only one DRD4 variant had significantly lower grades in English and math and only relatively lower grades in science and history.
Results from the study can be found in a paper, that was published online August 30 in the journal Intelligence.