Yoon-Mi Hur1, S. Elbedour2, Hasan Abu Saad3
Behavioral genetic studies of scholastic achievement in European samples suggest that genetic factors account for 30 to 70% of variations in scholastic achievement. Few studies, however, have investigated the genetic and environmental influences on academic achievement in non-European samples. The present study examined three measures (Arabic, English, and Mathematics) of academic achievement in 612 Bedouin full- and half-siblings in the Negev desert of Israel, ranging in age from 8 to 20 years. The Bedouin Arabs in the Negev region are a nomadic and semi-nomadic population. They have a long tradition of multiple marriages, and both full- and half-siblings live in intact families under the same conditions. School education is a low priority in this society; the illiteracy rate is known to be high. The majority of the children spend their time working in the home and caring for the family's sheep stock. Scores on achievement tests in Arabic, English, and mathmatics were corrected for gender. To determine the importance of genetic and environmental influences on the three measures, maximum likelihood correlations of full- and half-siblings were compared, and a standard behavioral genetic model was applied to the raw pedigree data using an estimation procedure for variable pedigree sizes in Mx. Contrary to the findings from European samples, variation in the three measures of scholastic abilities were influenced predominantly by environmental factors and not by genetic factors. A previous study of this population (S. Elbedour, T. J. Bouchard, Jr., & Y-M Hur, 1998, Intelligence, 25, 71 - 82) indicated that variation in general mental ability is also largely environmental in origin. It is speculated that under their extremely disadvantaged environmental conditions, genetics are not an important causal factor for individual differences in IQ and scholastic achievement.
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1Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN 55455, 2Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, 3Tel-Sheva high school, Israel