TUESDAY, Aug. 27, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A child's intelligence is not the sole key to academic success, a new British study concludes.

Instead, intelligence plus "non-cognitive" factors, such as a determination to excel despite obstacles and an innate love of learning, can push a child to the top of the class, new genetic data shows.

"Our research challenges the long-held assumption that intelligence is the primary driver of academic achievement," said study co-lead author Dr. Margherita Malanchini.

"We’ve found compelling evidence that non-cognitive skills -- such as grit, perseverance, academic interest and value attributed to learning -- are not only significant predictors of success, but that their influence grows stronger over time," added Malanchini, a senior lecturer in psychology at Queen Mary University of London.

She and co-lead study author Dr. Andrea Allegrini, of University College London, published their findings Aug. 26 in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

The new study involved over 10,000 British children whose academic success was tracked from ages 7 to 16. At the same time, the London researchers took a look at each child's DNA, seeking genes that are known to be linked to certain non-cognitive skills.

The team also compared outcome in pairs of identical and fraternal twins, again looking at how shared genes might influence academic outcomes.

They put the data together to create a "polygenic" score predicting how well each child might do in school.

"We discovered that genetic effects associated with non-cognitive skills become increasingly predictive of academic achievement over the school years, in fact their effect nearly doubles between the ages of 7 and 16," Allegrini, a research fellow at University College London, said in a Queen Mary news release. "By the end of compulsory education, genetic dispositions towards non-cognitive skills were equally as important as those related to cognitive abilities in predicting academic success." 

In other words, intelligence alone isn't always enough to excel: Drive, curiosity and other traits also play a big role in academic success.

Some of that goes beyond genetics and relies on the home or school environment as well, the researchers said. The twins study helped support that notion.

"We found that while family-wide processes play a significant role, the increasing influence of non-cognitive genetics on academic achievement remained evident even within families," Allegrini explained. "This suggests that children may actively shape their own learning experiences based on their personality, dispositions and abilities, creating a feedback loop that reinforces their strengths." 

The new findings suggest that schools should focus on more than just kids' smarts to boost their grades.

"Our education system has traditionally focused on cognitive development," Malanchini said. "It's time to rebalance that focus and give equal importance to nurturing non-cognitive skills. By doing so, we can create a more inclusive and effective learning environment for all students." 

More information

Find out more about motivating your child to learn at Harvard Health.

SOURCE: Queen Mary University, news release, Aug. 26, 202