Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adolescent Addition Problem Strategies

Strategies used to solve addition problems without pencil and paper have been evaluated and connected to math achievement in multiple studies of children and adults. However, only a few studies have used adolescent samples,... [ view full abstract ]

Strategies used to solve addition problems without pencil and paper have been evaluated and connected to math achievement in multiple studies of children and adults. However, only a few studies have used adolescent samples, and addition strategies have not been evaluated in a behavior genetic framework. In this study we evaluated the addition strategies used by a group of adolescent twins (77 MZ pairs and 136 DZ pairs) from the Western Reserve Reading and Math Project. Participants solved 20 addition problems (14 simple and 6 complex) and reported the strategies that they used to solve each problem. Strategies included retrieval, decomposition, and counting. The genetic and environmental influences on which strategies were used were calculated for simple, complex, and all addition problems. Strategy use measures for complex problems had a significant estimate of heritability. All measures of strategy use had significant nonshared environmental influences, and none of the measures had significant shared environmental influences.