Ramírez Renta GM et al., The American Journal of Human Genetics - GALS survey of >4,000 US respondents (GenPop and SPARK) shows confidence in genetic knowledge predicts Familiarity, Knowledge, and Skills, explaining ~25% of variance.

Study Highlights:
Using the Genetic and Autism Literacy Survey (GALS) in two US samples (GenPop and SPARK; n>4,000), the authors measured three genetic literacy components: Familiarity, Knowledge, and Skills via subjective familiarity ratings, objective true/false items, and a comprehension task. They modeled associations between these subscales and identity/belief measures including perceived importance, confidence, religiosity, religious affiliation, and political belief using linear regression adjusted for education and population. Confidence in one’s genetic knowledge was the strongest predictor, accounting for roughly 25% of variance in Familiarity and Knowledge and substantially improving model R2; perceived importance had a positive but smaller effect while religious and political measures showed mixed associations. The finding implies improving individuals’ confidence in genetic knowledge, alongside tailored communication strategies, could support better comprehension and uptake of genetics and genomics services.

Conclusion:
Confidence in one’s genetic knowledge, after education, is the largest modifiable predictor of genetic literacy and should be a focus for interventions to improve comprehension and uptake of genetics services.

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Reference:
Ramírez Renta GM, Little ID, Koehly LM, et al. Interaction of identity and beliefs with genetic literacy. The American Journal of Human Genetics. 2026;113:16–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2025.11.014

License:
This episode is based on an open-access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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