Dr Elsje van Bergen
@drElsje
A/Prof Psychology @NTRscience; Vis/Prof @UniOslo. Developmental science, education equality, genetics. #ERCStG #VIDI, also @drelsje.bsky.social🤸
🤩🍾I'm over the moon about my ERC #ERCStG for my proposal "Growing up among bright books & generous genes: The intergenerational cycle of educational achievement"! It took resilience & recycling rejected grants. At 4pm I'll talk at vu.nl/en/news/2022/e…
The countdown begins! Tomorrow noon we reveal the 2022 Starting Grants competition results. At 16:00 CET 22/11, you can hear first-hand from some of the successful researchers. Learn about their amazing science, & maybe even get application tips! 🎙️🎧 👇
Shared genes explain why ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia often occur together, study finds psypost.org/shared-genes-e…
Considering that math difficulties are often comorbid with math anxiety and avoidance, the use of standard math tests pushes an important demographic away from research and large-scale screenings. The use of our self-report measure is a way to attract those with difficulties.
Check out our recent preprint - a study we conducted to develop and validate a new self-report measure for adults to assess their math ability @MinnaTorppa @drElsje osf.io/preprints/psya…
🚨 Big question, big paper! Why does educational inequality run in families? The parent-child education link (r = .31) is often seen as purely environmental. From 569k kids, we decomposed it: 🧬68% genetic 🏡12% parental env 👴20% extended-family env 👉osf.io/rehdj 🧵
Breaking down the .31 parent-offspring correlation: 🧬68% genetic 👨👩👧12% parental environment 👴20% extended-family environment Some influence runs via the co-parent (assortative mating). Most influences on kids’ achievement aren't shared with those on parent attainment. 🧵
Big performance differences by parental education 📊 While boys and girls scored similarly, a striking education gradient emerged: 🎓 Teens of Master's-educated parents mostly scored above the mean 🧑🔧 Teens of lower-secondary educated parents mostly scored below the mean 🧵
Thanks! Here with the link to the paper: osf.io/rehdj @farteinask @lervag @hfsunde @CaroRowland
THM: "Parental education correlated .31 with children’s school-achievement scores; this correlation was due to substantial genetic (68%) and smaller parental-environmental (12%) and extended-family environmental (20%) contributions" Zie ook tijdlijn @drElsje
The story continues...
🚨 Big question, big paper! Why does educational inequality run in families? The parent-child education link (r = .31) is often seen as purely environmental. From 569k kids, we decomposed it: 🧬68% genetic 🏡12% parental env 👴20% extended-family env 👉osf.io/rehdj 🧵
We krijgen allemaal veel mee van onze ouders: opvoeding, financiële middelen, een netwerk... Maar het voornaamste dat ze ons meegeven (en dat blijkt uit veel studies): hun genen. Biologie bepaalt niet alles maar biologie ontkennen werkt al helemaal niet.
🚨 Big question, big paper! Why does educational inequality run in families? The parent-child education link (r = .31) is often seen as purely environmental. From 569k kids, we decomposed it: 🧬68% genetic 🏡12% parental env 👴20% extended-family env 👉osf.io/rehdj 🧵
The relationship between parents' education and children's academic achievement is predominantly determined by genes. Children's academic achievement is linked to their parents’ education, a link often attributed to resources and support in the home. Although there is…
🚀 New paper @PsychScience & press release! 🧬📖 🧮 Our large-scale study (20,000 children) shows that #ADHD, #dyslexia, and #dyscalculia often co-occur due to shared genetic risk—not because one condition causes the other. doi.org/10.1177/095679… vu.nl/en/news/2025/g… (1/5)
Key findings ✅37% of kids with ADHD also have dyslexia or dyscalculia ✅Learning difficulties don't result from ADHD itself ✅Rather, genetic risk for ADHD raises risk of learning difficulties ✅Genetics explain 75% of differences in academic skills doi.org/10.1177/095679…
👩🔬 What does this mean? Treating #ADHD alone is unlikely to improve reading/math skills, just as treating #dyslexia won't reduce ADHD symptoms. A remedy for one is not a remedy for the other! 📰 Press vu.nl/en/news/2025/g… 📢 @PsychScience doi.org/10.1177/095679… 3/5