Health
1. The statistics for mental health problems in the UK portray a dark picture: approximately three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health problem. Mental health problems usually appear in early adolescence; the earlier the symptoms appear, the worse the outcome tends to be. According to the NHS, this crisis is increasing, with an alarming 1 in 4 young people (age 17- 19) showing signs of mental disorder. The crisis is likely to grow, yet the causes of mental health problems remain poorly understood.
Identifying potentially preventable risk factors of poor mental health in childhood and adolescence is vital to building a solid base for interventions that could make a real difference.Researchers have long sought these modifiable risk factors in the context of children's homes or neighbourhoodenvironments. Families may provide a source of mental health risk, but it is unclear what the mechanisms are behind the intergenerational transmission. School environments have been less extensively studied with respect to their effects onmental health, yet children spend more than 15,000 hours of their lives in full-time education13. However, research about school environments and mental health is scarce. Our research has shown that both subjective (e.g., perceived student-teacher relationship) and objective (e.g., school quality) educational experiences are associated with mental health; these experiences act cumulatively in predicting mental health symptoms.
Fig 1. Educational experiences are associated with mental health outcomes additively, suggesting that these environmental experiences might pose a cumulative risk for mental health outcomes (Model 1). Prediction increased when adding previous school experiences to contemporaneous predictors (Model 2). Prediction decreased when controlling for 29 polygenic scores (Model 3) and decreased further when controlling for mental health at age 7 (Model 4); however, the prediction remained significant and substantial.
2. Much research supports the widely accepted view that individuals vary in their reactions to environmental exposures, with some being more affected than others (Belsky & Pluess, 2016; Slagt et al., 2016). Recent studies have also shown that environmental sensitivity is a substantially heritable trait (~47%), with high-scoring individuals more sensitive to both positive and negative exposures than low-scoring individuals (Assary et al., 2021; Pluess et al., 2023). It is, therefore, possible that children who exhibit elevated levels of psychopathology at an early age or who have a higher genetic predisposition toward developing such conditions may also experience elevated environmental sensitivity and be differentially impacted by the school environment compared to their peers. Environmental sensitivity theories predict that, although a difficult school environment would be more detrimental to those with greater pre-existing mental health vulnerabilities, a supportive school environment might lead to a relative benefit for those with pre-existing difficulties.This prediction might imply that the correlations observed in our previous studies (Rimfeld et al., in preparation, Ferdinand et al., in preparation) may be driven to a greater extent by those at extreme psychopathology vulnerability. Understanding whether and how the effects of the school environment vary among those with pre-existing vulnerabilities may be vital for developing targeted early interventions that support favourable mental health outcomes.
Here, we aim to extend our previous work investigating how individual differences impact the relationship between school experiences and psychopathology by examining their associations in the extremes of the student mental health continuum.Based on the extreme scores of phenotypic mental health (1st principal component of the general factor of psychopathology (p); internalizing factor) at age 7 (+/-1SD; +/-2SD) and extreme genomic p-factor (first principal component of polygenic scores of adult psychiatric traits; see methods) scores (+/-1SD; +/-2SD) we will create psychopathology extremes groups, separating those with pre-existing mental health vulnerabilities from the general population. Using a genetically sensitive design, we will explore and compare the associations between objective and subjective school environments and mental health in extremes groupings. We will test the environmental sensitivity hypothesis by investigating if the relationship between objective and subjective school experiences is associated with increasing mental health symptoms across development linearly or if the relationship is non-linear. We will also study if children at the extremes of the distribution of mental health are differentially affected by educational experiences.
3. Childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for the onset of lifetime mental health problems, with over a third of all mental health problems starting by the age of 14 and 62.5% by 25 (Solmi et al., 2022). Research suggests that, currently, approximately 20% of young people in Western countries experience mental health issues (European Commission, 2021; NHS England, 2023). As mental ill health has been demonstrated to be a key driver of disability globally (Lozano et al., 2012), understanding the causes of common mental disorders in young people and developing effective early interventions is an ongoing public health concern.
To effectively address child and adolescent mental health problems, it is vital to understand whether - and how - educational experiences influence psychopathology in young people. Our study will employ longitudinal data from a large Norwegian cohort to explore two questions: (i) Does the classroom environment mediate changes in mental health status across childhood, and (ii) what are the longitudinal relationships between mental health and the classroom environment across childhood? Using parent-reported measures of mental health at 8 and parent- and self-reported measures of mental health at 14, we will explore whether the classroom environment at 11 mediate changes in mental health over childhood and early adolescence. As we have longitudinal measures of teacher-reported mental health and teacher-reported classroom environment (at ages 8 and 11), we will also assess the longitudinal relationships between these variables over time and contemporaneously. A sibling control design will explore how genetic and within-family factors confound associations between classroom environments and mental health. This research will help us to increase the current understanding of how educational settings contribute to mental health trajectories and may also provide insight into the effects of school experiences in differing educational systems.
Education
1. Teacher assessments during compulsory education are as reliable, stable and heritable as standardized test scores Children in the UK go through rigorous teacher assessments and standardized exams throughout compulsory (elementary and secondary) education, culminating with the GCSE exams (General Certificate of Secondary Education) at the age of 16 and A-level exams (Advanced Certificate of Secondary Education) at the age of 18. These exams are a major tipping point,directing young individuals towards different lifelong trajectories. However, little is known about the associations between teacher assessments and exam performance or how these two measurement approaches predict educational outcomes at the end of compulsory education and beyond.
Teacher assessments of achievement are as reliable, stable and heritable (~60%) as test scores at every stage of the educational experience. Teacher and test scores correlate strongly phenotypically (r ~ .70) and genetically (genetic correlation ~.80) contemporaneously and over time.
Teachers can reliably and validly monitor students' progress, abilities and inclinations. High-stakes exams may shift the educational experience away from learning towards exam performance. For these reasons, we suggest that teacher assessments could replace some or all high-stakes exams.
https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jcpp.13070
2. Genetics and early intervention: Exploring ethical and policy questions The report, by Tom McBride with Dr Kathryn Asbury and Dr KailiRimfeld, begins an important conversation about whether and how genetic research might be used in early intervention and social policy and to understand the potential benefits and risks better.
The science of genetics is advancing rapidly, and it is increasingly possible to identify at birth children who have an elevated likelihood of outcomes such as struggling at school or being diagnosed with a learning, behavioural or mental health condition. Given our commitment to using evidence to support children, we are open to the idea that it may be possible to use this genetic data, alongside other data, to identify those who could benefit from additional support.However, using genetic data to design and deliver early intervention services raises some profound ethical challenges.
To explore these issues, we convened a series of workshops with experts from a wide range of backgrounds to discuss the following question: Can genetic data be used to improve outcomes for children and families without marginalizing individuals, entrenching disadvantage or increasing inequalities? This report outlines the key risks and challenges they identified and highlights areas of consensus and disagreement. It draws out recommendations for the political, social policy and research communities.
https://www.eif.org.uk/report/genetics-and-early-intervention-exploring-ethical-and-policy-questions
3. Mathematics motivation is a better predictor of STEM career choice in young adults than mathematics anxiety
As the UK experiences a widening skills gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, understanding the psychological factors influencing STEM career choices becomes imperative.Here, we examined the joint influence of maths anxiety (MA) and maths motivation (MM), experienced in late adolescence, on STEM career choice in emerging adulthood using self-reported data from 7,908 Twins Early Development Study participants. We found that while both MA and MM were associated with STEM career choice (r=-0.23 and r=0.28, respectively), MM was a stronger independent predictor for STEM career choice (OR=2.11) than MA (OR=0.79), which did not predict STEM career choice after adjusting for maths achievement. MM predicted STEM career choice in male (OR=1.95) and female (OR=2.72) samples, butMA was only a predictor in the male sample (OR=0.63).These findings suggest that interventions aiming to mitigate the STEM skills gap should prioritize thedevelopment of maths motivation during critical educational periods, regardless of gender.
Cognition
Pathfinder: a gamified measure to integrate general cognitive ability into the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences. In a series of four studies, we created a 15-minute (40-item), online, gamified measure of g that is highly reliable, psychometrically valid and scalable; we called this new measure Pathfinder. We administered this measure to 4,751 Twins Early Development Study adults. This novel g measure, which also yields reliable verbal and nonverbal scores, correlated substantially with standard measures of g collected at previous ages (r ranging from 0.42 at age 7 to 0.57 at age 16). Pathfinder showed substantial twin heritability (0.57, 95% CIs = 0.43, 0.68) and SNP heritability (0.37, 95% CIs = 0.04, 0.70). A polygenic score computed from GWA studies of five cognitive and educational traits accounted for 12% of the variation in g, the strongest DNA-based prediction of g to date. Widespread use of this engaging new measure will advance research in genomics and the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences.
All researchers can access Pathfinder and easily integrate it within existing data collection platforms.
2. King's Challenge. Spatial abilities encompass several skills differentiable from general cognitive ability (g). Importantly, spatial abilities have been shown to be significant predictors of many life outcomes, even after controlling for g. To date, no studies have analyzed the genetic architecture of diverse spatial abilities using a multivariate approach. We developed "gamified" measures of diverse putative spatial abilities. The battery of 10 tests was administered online to 1,367 twin pairs (age 19–21) from the UK-representative Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). We show that spatial abilities constitute a single factor, both phenotypically and genetically, even after controlling for g. This spatial ability factor is highly heritable (69%). We draw three conclusions: (i) The high heritability of spatial ability makes it a good target for gene-hunting research; (ii) some genes will be specific to spatial ability, independent of g; and (iii) these genes will be associated with all components of spatial ability.
Spatial Spy: Performance in everyday spatial orientation tasks (e.g., map reading and navigation) has been considered functionally separate from performance on more abstract object-based spatial abilities (e.g., mental rotation and visualization). However, few studies have examined the link between spatial orientation and object-based spatial skills, and even fewer have done so, including a wide range of spatial tests. To examine this issue and, more generally, to test the structure of spatial ability, we used a novel gamified battery to assess six spatial orientation tests in a virtual environment. We examined their association with ten object-based spatial tests and their links to general cognitive ability (g). We further estimated the role of genetic and environmental factors in underlying variation and covariation in these spatial tests.Participants (N = 2660; aged 19-22) were part of the Twins Early Development Study. The six tests of spatial orientation clustered into a single 'Navigation' factor that was 64% heritable. Examining the structure of spatial ability across all 16 tests, three substantially correlated factors emerged: Navigation, Object Manipulation, and VisualizationVisualisation. These, in turn, loaded strongly onto a general factor of Spatial Ability, which was highly heritable (84%). A large portion (45%) of this high heritability was independent of g. The results point towards the existence of a common genetic network that supports all spatial abilities.
Spatial Spy can be accessed by all researchers and easily integrated within existing data collection platforms.