Researchers from King's College in London have discovered that the genetics of children does not only affect the IQ of the child, but also a great number of his traits as well.

The study focused on 6,000 pairs of identical twins. Apart from academic achievement, they saw that motivation, personality, confidence, as well as a dozen other traits and attributes came from their DNA.

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While researchers have understood that genetics affect a person's IQ, it was still unclear whether it also affected the test scores and grades.

In order to go through with the study, the researchers from King's College analyzed 11,000 twins born from 1994 to 1996. These twins were either identical or non-identical. The scientists then focused on 83 different traits, rather than just the IQ.

To do this, they made the twins answer a questionnaire when they were 16 years old. The parents also filled it out.

The traits had ranged from measures of health and overall happiness, and even how motivated they were at school.

Afterwards, the researchers saw how each of the patients scored on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam, an exam that all students must take in the United Kingdom in order to advance to college.

A total of nine general groups of traits were all highly hereditary, they found out. Identical twins were more likely to inherit them as opposed to the non-identical ones.

The traits, other than the intelligence being correlated with the GCSE, explained more than half of the genetic basis for all the scores.

Of all the people who took the test, the performance of 62% of them could be attributed to genetic factors.

Lee Thompson, a psychologist in Cleveland, Ohio, said that it was shaping up to be a really classic piece of literature.

The study may lead to better ways of improving children's education.

TagsKing's College, IQ, DNA, Twins