Racial and ethnic group differences in the heritability of intelligence: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Bryan J. Pesta, Emil O.W. Kirkegaard, Jan te Nijenhuis, Jordan Lasker and John G.R. Fuerst

Intelligence, 2020, vol. 78, issue C

Abstract: Via meta-analysis, we examined whether the heritability of intelligence varies across racial or ethnic groups. Specifically, we tested a hypothesis predicting an interaction whereby those racial and ethnic groups living in relatively disadvantaged environments display lower heritability and higher environmentality. The reasoning behind this prediction is that people (or groups of people) raised in poor environments may not be able to realize their full genetic potentials. Our sample (k = 16) comprised 84,897 Whites, 37,160 Blacks, and 17,678 Hispanics residing in the United States. We found that White, Black, and Hispanic heritabilities were consistently moderate to high, and that these heritabilities did not differ across groups. At least in the United States, Race/Ethnicity × Heritability interactions likely do not exist.

Keywords: Ethnicity; Heritability; Intelligence; Race (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:intell:v:78:y:2020:i:c:s0160289619301904

DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2019.101408

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