Both the reading skills and the mathematical skills that an individual shows at the age of seven help predict what their socioeconomic status will be when they reach adulthood, according to research from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) that has just been published in the journal Psychological Science .
Using data from the United Kingdom's National Child Development Study, which followed 17,000 people born in 1958 for 50 years, scientists have found that the most mathematically dexterous and fluent readers at the age of seven were those who they were earning higher income at the age of 42 . Specifically, they calculate that they earn around 5,000 pounds more each year than those less skilled in language and math, in addition to having a better job. "We have shown that the basic skills acquired in childhood are not just a curricular issue: they influence how life goes in the long term," says Stuart Ritchie, co-author of the study, who says that more analysis is needed to separate the effects of genetics and the effects of the environment on these results.
