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SummaryThe aim of this study was to investigate the association between maternal sensitivity and offspring intelligence in late childhood and adolescence. Secondary data (N=117) from the Block and Block (2006a, b) 30-year longitudinal study of Californian children, which began in the late 1960s, was used to test the hypothesis that maternal sensitivity in childhood would be predictive of late childhood and adolescent intelligence. Correlational analyses revealed that maternal sensitivity, as judged by raters viewing mother's interactions with their children in a set of four joint structured cognitive tasks when the child was 5 years of age, was associated with verbal and performance IQ test scores when the children were ages 11 and 18. Using hierarchical regression to control for child sex, socioeconomic status, child temperament, child baseline IQ (as measured at age 4), mother's level of education and mother's emotional nurturance, it was found that the maternal sensitivity and child and adolescent IQ association held for verbal, but not performance IQ. Furthermore, a pattern emerged in which the association between maternal sensitivity and verbal IQ was stronger for adolescents with a lower baseline IQ. The results suggest that maternal sensitivity is associated with offspring verbal intelligence and that this association holds when numerous variables are accounted for. Additionally, this association may be stronger for children with lower IQs.

AbstractThe Scarr–Rowe effect is a gene × environment interaction, which is characterized by a negative association between exposure to low socioeconomic status (SES) environments and the additive heritability of cognitive ability. Utilizing a polygenic score for educational attainment (EA3), it was found that the two-way interaction between EA3 and parental educational attainment (EA; used as a proxy for parental SES) was a significant positive predictor of participants' composite cognitive ability (IQ) score (β = .018, SE = .008, p = .028) after controlling hierarchically for the direct effects of (population-stratification-controlled) EA3, parental EA, and 20 distinct interaction terms (10 involving the interactions between the principal components [PCs] and EA3, and 10 involving the interaction between the PCs and parental EA). The presence of this interaction is consistent with the Scarr–Rowe effect, as the expressivity of EA3 on cognitive ability increases with increasing parental EA. No statistically significant sex differences in the effect magnitudes were found, although the effect was significantly present in the female but not male sample.

In various personality models, such as the Big Five, a consistent higher order general factor of personality (GFP) can be identified. One view in the literature is that the GFP reflects general social effectiveness. Most GFP studies, however, have been conducted in Western, educated, industrialized, and rich democracies (WEIRD). Therefore, to address the question of the universality of the GFP, we test whether the GFP can also be identified in a preliterate indigenous sample of Tsimane by using self-reports, spouse reports, and interviewer ratings. In the Tsimane, a viable GFP could be identified and the intercorrelations between personality traits were significantly stronger than in samples from industrial countries. The GFP correlated with the ratings of social engagement. In addition, self and spouse ratings of the GFP overlapped. Overall, the findings are in line with the notion that the GFP is a human universal and a substantive personality factor reflecting social effectiveness.

In various personality models, such as the Big Five, a consistent higher order general factor of personality (GFP) can be identified. One view in the literature is that the GFP reflects general social effectiveness. Most GFP studies, however, have been conducted in Western, educated, industrialized, and rich democracies (WEIRD). Therefore, to address the question of the universality of the GFP, we test whether the GFP can also be identified in a preliterate indigenous sample of Tsimane by using self-reports, spouse reports, and interviewer ratings. In the Tsimane, a viable GFP could be identified and the intercorrelations between personality traits were significantly stronger than in samples from industrial countries. The GFP correlated with the ratings of social engagement. In addition, self and spouse ratings of the GFP overlapped. Overall, the findings are in line with the notion that the GFP is a human universal and a substantive personality factor reflecting social effectiveness.