Can how well we read and count at seven REALLY predict how successful we will be in later life?

How well we count and read aged seven can influence how successful we will be, researchers have claimed.
Edinburgh researchers analysed data from over 17,000 people in England, Scotland, and Wales over a span of about 50 years.
They found the abilities at seven predict socioeconomic status in adulthood over and above associations with intelligence, education, and socioeconomic status in childhood.

Researchers saying being good at maths age seven could add £5,000 to your salary in later life - and claim success could be genetic

Stuart Ritchie and Timothy Bates of the University of Edinburgh said they wanted to investigate whether early math and reading skills might have effects that go beyond the classroom.
'We wanted to test whether being better at math or reading in childhood would be linked with a rise through the social ranks: a better job, better housing, and higher income as an adult,' they said.

 

The researchers explored these relationships using data from the National Child Development Study, a large, nationally representative study that followed over 17,000 people in England, Scotland, and Wales over a span of about 50 years, from when they were born in 1958 to present day.

The data revealed that childhood reading and math skills really do matter.

Ritchie and Bates found that participants' reading and math ability at age 7 were linked to their social class a full 35 years later.
Participants who had higher reading and math skills as children ended up having higher incomes, better housing, and better jobs in adulthood.
The data suggest, for example, that going up one reading level at age 7 was associated with a £5,000, or roughly $7,750, increase in income at age 42.

The long-term associations held even after the researchers took other common factors into account.

Researchers now plan to study twins in an attempt to find out if genetic factors are involved in the differences

'These findings imply that basic childhood skills, independent of how smart you are, how long you stay in school, or the social class you started off in, will be important throughout your life,' say Ritchie and Bates.
The researchers believe that genes may play a role.

'Genes underlie many of the differences among children on all the variables we've looked at here,' they said.

'The genetically-controlled study using twins that we're conducting now should allow us to separate out genetic and environmental effects.'

The researchers hope that the twin study will illuminate the extent to which environmental interventions might strengthen the links they've identified in their current research.