Familial Resemblance in Cognitive Abilities: An Indirect Method of Measurement

Abstract

Familial resemblance in cognitive abilities was assessed for 528 mother-offspring pairs, 510 father-offspring pairs and 416 sibling pairs. Using a self-rating procedure, competence in reading, spelling, and mathematics were assessed. Over-all, father-offspring correlations were stronger than mother-offspring correlations for these cognitive abilities. The obtained magnitude and pattern of correlations for the cognitive skills are similar to those obtained in direct objective testing procedures. This suggests that self-rating of cognitive skills may provide a quick convenient method of obtaining ancillary data on family patterns of cognitive abilities.