Low grades in adolescence linked to dopamine genes

October, 2010

A large American study of middle- and high-school students has found lower academic performance in core subjects was associated with three dopamine gene variants

Analysis of DNA and lifestyle data from a representative group of 2,500 U.S. middle- and high-school students tracked from 1994 to 2008 in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health has revealed that lower academic performance was associated with three dopamine gene variants. Having more of the dopamine gene variants (three rather than one, say) was associated with a significantly lower GPA.

Moreover, each of the dopamine genes (on its own) was linked to specific deficits: there was a marginally significant negative effect on English grades for students with a specific variant in the DAT1 gene, but no apparent effect on math, history or science; a specific variant in the DRD2 gene was correlated with a markedly negative effect on grades in all four subjects; those with the deleterious DRD4 variant had significantly lower grades in English and math, but only marginally lower grades in history and science.

Precisely why these specific genes might impact academic performance isn’t known with any surety, but they have previously been linked to such factors as adolescent delinquency, working memory, intelligence and cognitive abilities, and ADHD, among others.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/fsu-lgi090210.php

Reference:

[1835] Beaver, K. M., Vaughn M. G., Wright J P., DeLisi M., & Howard M. O.
(Submitted). Three dopaminergic polymorphisms are associated with academic achievement in middle and high school.
Intelligence. In Press, Corrected Proof,

dopamine

genes

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