The Effect of Child Weight on Academic Performance: Evidence using Genetic Markers

von Hinke Kessler, Scholder, S
This paper examines the relationship between children’s weight and academic outcomes using genetic markers as instruments to account for the possible endogeneity of body size. We use medically assessed measures of body size which are more appropriate than the generally used BMI measures. OLS results indicate that leaner children perform better in school tests compared to their heavier counterparts, but the IV results, using genetic markers as instruments, show no evidence that fat mass affects academic outcomes. We compare these IV results to those using the instruments generally adopted in this literature. We show that the results are sensitive to the instrument set and argue that several of the commonly used instruments do not meet the exclusion restrictions required of a valid instrument.

http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:09/25&r=edu

The Effect of Adolescent Health on Educational Outcomes: Causal Evidence using Genetic Lotteries between Siblings

Fletcher, Jason M. & Lehrer, Steven F.
There has been growing interest in using specific genetic markers as instrumental variables in attempts to assess causal relationships between health status and socioeconomic outcomes, including human capital accumulation. In this paper we use a combination of family fixed effects and genetic marker instruments to show strong evidence that inattentive symptoms of ADHD in childhood and depressive symptoms as an adolescent are linked with years of completed schooling. Our estimates suggest that controlling for family fixed effects is important but these strategies cannot fully account for the endogeneity of poor mental heath. Finally, our results demonstrate that the presence of comorbid conditions present immense challenges for empirical studies that aim to estimate the impact of specific health conditions.

http://www.clsrn.econ.ubc.ca/workingpapers/CLSRN%20Working%20Paper%20no.%2032%20-%20Lehrer%20-%20Genetic%20Lotteries.pdf

What Do We Know About Genes, Personality and Behaviour?

Deric Bownd's MindBlog is a useful resource to answer a question such as this. Here Bownds discusses the genetics of personality and well-being. He mentions a study by Weiss et al. (Psychological Science, 2008) that examines personality and subjective well-being in 973 twin pairs. Bownds mentions that numerous studies of personality have shown that genetic effects account for approximately 50% of the variance in the 'Big Five' peronslity traits. Weiss et al. report a very close genetic relationship between positive personality traits and well-being.

Bownds also mentions on his blog (here) that the Nov. 7 issue of Science Magazine is a gold mine of articles on genetics and behavior. He mentions that some believe that psychology is the last frontier of genetic analysis. Of particular interest, there is a story on the strengths and shortcomings of genetic studies of personality. Also, Bownds discusses on his blog (here) a gene that is associated with risk-taking.