ReviewNPJ science of learning2021
Nurture might be nature: cautionary tales and proposed solutions.
Review in NPJ science of learning, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vocabulary interventions for second language (L2) learners up to six years of age.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Positive Parenting and Early Childhood Cognition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2023Pooled it
- Epigenetic signatures relating to disease-associated genotypic burden in familial risk of bipolar disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- The home math environment and math achievement: A meta-analysis.Psychological bulletin · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of partial correlations between caregiver cognitive stimulation in early childhood and child development.Psychological bulletinPooled it
- Relations Between Parents' Math Anxiety and Children's Math Learning: The Role of Homework Help.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Timing and duration of early-childhood shared reading and resilience, behavior problems, and reading habits.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Disentangling shared and unique effects of parenting on psychopathology: Evidence from two prospective, genetically sensitive cohort studies.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Home numeracy experiences are associated with number-related brain activity and connectivity in early childhood.NPJ science of learning · 2026Article
- The Power to Resolve Cultural Transmission and Sibling Interaction Using Polygenic Scores.Behavior genetics · 2026Article
- Dyslexia Polygenic Index and Socio-Economic Status Interaction Effects on Reading Skills in Australia and the United Kingdom.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- Developmental cascades from maternal depressive symptoms in childhood to adolescents' friendship quality: A 13-year longitudinal study.Developmental psychology · 2025Article
- Polygenic Scores of Executive Function Provide Limited Support for Genetic Confounding With Socio-Economic Measures.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2025Article
- Disentangling multivariate relationships between cognition, language and social traits: structures of G, E, andbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- The Home Literacy Environment and Reading Development of Children With and Without Learning Disabilities.Developmental science · 2025Article
- The intergenerational impact of mothers and fathers on children's word reading development.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Article
- Longitudinal trajectories of brain development from infancy to school age and their relationship with literacy development.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Longitudinal trajectories of brain development from infancy to school age and their relationship to literacy development.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Twin modelling reveals partly distinct genetic pathways to music enjoyment.Nature communications · 2025Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Across a wide range of studies, researchers often conclude that the home environment and children's outcomes are causally linked. In contrast, behavioral genetic studies show that parents influence their children by providing them with both environment and genes, meaning the environment that parents provide should not be considered in the absence of genetic influences, because that can lead to erroneous conclusions on causation. This article seeks to provide behavioral scientists with a synopsis of numerous methods to estimate the direct effect of the environment, controlling for the potential of genetic confounding. Ideally, using genetically sensitive designs can fully disentangle this genetic confound, but these require specialized samples. In the near future, researchers will likely have access to measured DNA variants (summarized in a polygenic scores), which could serve as a partial genetic control, but that is currently not an option that is ideal or widely available. We also propose a work around for when genetically sensitive data are not readily available: the Familial Control Method. In this method, one measures the same trait in the parents as the child, and the parents' trait is then used as a covariate (e.g., a genetic proxy). When these options are all not possible, we plead with our colleagues to clearly mention genetic confound as a limitation, and to be cautious with any environmental causal statements which could lead to unnecessary parent blaming.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.