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Linearity of offspring-parent regression for general cognitive ability

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Abstract

Composite general cognitive ability scores were computed for members of 843 families from the Americans of European Ancestry sample in the Hawaii Family Study of Cognition (HFSC) and were analyzed for linearity of offspring-parent resemblance. Regressions of midoffspring on midparent values using various subgroupings of the data set, as well as a test for the significance of the quadratic regression obtained from an analysis of the entire sample, provided little or no evidence for nonlinear offspring-parent resemblance. These results differ from those recently reported by Reed and Rich [(1982), Behav. Genet.12:535–542], possibly because all family members tested in the HFSC are within the normal range of mental ability, whereas the Reed and Rich sample consists of families having a history of mental retardation.

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The results reported here were made possible by the collaboration of a group of investigators (G. C. Ashton, R. C. Johnson, M. P. Mi, and M. N. Rashad at the University of Hawaii and J. C. DeFries, G. E. McClearn, S. G. Vandenberg, and J. R. Wilson at the University of Colorado) supported by National Science Foundation Grant GB-34720 and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant HD-06669. This analysis was conducted while G. P. Vogler was supported by NIMH Training Grant MH-16880.

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Vogler, G.P., De Fries, J.C. Linearity of offspring-parent regression for general cognitive ability. Behav Genet 13, 355–360 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065773

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