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Background: The way in which socioeconomic status (SES) moderates the etiology of reading attainment has been explored many times, with past work often finding that genetic influences are suppressed under conditions of socioeconomic deprivation and more fully realized under conditions of socioeconomic advantage: a gene–SES interaction. Additionally, past work has pointed toward the presence of gene–location interactions, with the relative influence of genes and environment varying across geographic regions of the same country/state. Method: This study investigates the extent to which SES and geographical location interact to moderate the genetic and environmental components of reading attainment. Utilizing data from 2,135 twin pairs in Florida (mean age 13.82 years, range 10.71–17.77), the study operationalized reading attainment as reading comprehension scores from a statewide test and SES as household income. We applied a spatial twin analysis procedure to investigate how twin genetic and environmental estimates vary by geographic location. We then expanded this analysis to explore how the moderating role of SES on said genetic and environmental influences also varied by geographic location. Results: A gene–SES interaction was found, with heritability of reading being suppressed in lower‐ (23%) versus higher‐SES homes (78%). The magnitude of the moderating parameters were not consistent by location, however, and ranged from −0.10 to 0.10 for the moderating effect on genetic influences, and from −0.30 to 0.05 for the moderating effect on environmental influences. For smaller areas and those with less socioeconomic variability, the magnitude of the genetic moderating parameter was high, giving rise to more fully realized genetic influences on reading there. Conclusions: SES significantly influences reading variability. However, a child's home location matters in both the overall etiology and how strongly SES moderates said etiologies. These results point toward the presence of multiple significant environmental factors that simultaneously, and inseparably, influence the underlying etiology of reading attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a historic event impacting children around the globe. Prior research on the educational experiences of children during the COVID-19 pandemic focused almost exclusively on spring 2020. This article extends this literature past the initial shock of spring 2020, capturing the first full school year (2020–2021) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This registered report study utilized a national sample of 1,666 United States twins in kindergarten through 12th grade from 43 states to provide the current descriptive report of children's educational experiences during this time, as reported by their parents. Specifically, we reported on school format, parents' role in education, parent–teacher interactions, schoolwork struggles, technology access, and school services. About half of children attended in-person schooling, with many children switching from online to in-person throughout the school year. Parents saw the pandemic as a risk to their children's education. During the 2020–2021 school year of the pandemic, parents felt they had a larger role in their children's education and were less satisfied in their interactions with teachers than what they experienced during the prepandemic part of the 2019–2020 school year. Children experienced more schoolwork struggles than they had in previous years, and this was similar across age groups. For most constructs, results were equivalent across age group, but parents of younger children tended to provide more schoolwork help. Overall, this article highlights the disruptions in their educational environments that children continued to experience through the first full school year (2020–2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Significance Statement: This study provides important insights into what the educational experiences were of U.S. families with K-12 children during the first full school year (2020–2021) of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, in many cases how this differed from the prepandemic part of the 2019–2020 school year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior theoretical and empirical research has highlighted links between positive parenting and the socioeconomic characteristics of the family's neighborhood, but has yet to illuminate the etiologic origins of this association. One possibility is that the various predictors of parenting outlined by Belsky (1984; e.g., characteristics of the child, characteristics of the parent, and contextual influences) may matter more in some neighborhood contexts than in others. To examine this possibility, we conducted etiologic moderation analyses in a sample of 1,030 families of twins (average age 8 years; 51% male, 49% female; racial composition: 82% White, 10% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Indigenous, and 6% multiracial) from the Twin Study of Behavioral and Emotional Development in Children in the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Neighborhood and parenting were assessed using multiple informants and assessment strategies (neighborhood and family informants, administrative data, and videotaped parent–child interactions). Results pointed to strong evidence of etiologic moderation, such that child effects on positive mothering were prominent in neighborhoods with little opportunity and near zero in neighborhoods with ample opportunity. Such findings not only reframe the magnitude of child effects on the parenting they receive as context-dependent, but also indicate that mothers in impoverished neighborhoods may be more responsive to their children's characteristics than mothers in neighborhoods with ample opportunity. Public Significance Statement: Our findings confirm the long-running notion that children are active participants in the parenting they receive. However, we find that child effects on positive parenting are also context-dependent, such that child effects on positive parenting are especially pronounced in underresourced neighborhood contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early reading skills are critical for later academic outcomes, which include mathematics. Yet, these relations may vary by a child's ability level. This study examined how early reading skills relate to different levels of third-grade mathematics. The samples included 105 same-sex twin pairs (210 individuals, 57% female, 43% male) from the ongoing longitudinal Western Reserve Reading and Math Projects, assessed at kindergarten ( M = 6.18, SD = 0.44) and third grade ( M = 9.07, SD = 0.49). Kindergarten reading measures consisted of the Letter Identification task from the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised Normative Update, the Deletion subtests from Phonological Awareness Test, and the Letter Naming Fluency task from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills; third-grade math measures included Calculation, Fluency, Applied Problem, and Quantitative Concepts subtests of Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Both linear and quantile regressions were conducted using reading measures as predictors and math measures as the dependent variables. Linear regressions indicated that the Deletion Summary Score was a unique predictor of Applied Problems, and Letter Naming Fluency was a significant and unique predictor of Calculation Fluency and Quantitative Concepts. Quantile regressions provided a more thorough analysis of these relations. It was found that Letter Naming Fluency was significantly associated with Calculation, Calculation Fluency, and Quantitative Concepts at the lower level. The Deletion Summary Score had relatively stable relations with Applied Problems across all levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).