This article reports that a new study has found that young men are less likely to attend college if they carry a common form of a gene associated with poor impulse control. The study also found that a strong environment--a high-quality high school and heavily involved parents--can counteract that genetic risk. For boys with this gene who grow up in supportive environments, there was no drop in college attendance. The study, which was written by three sociologists and a behavioral geneticist, examined genes and survey data from more than 2,500 people who have participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The lead author, Michael J. Shanahan, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, insists that the study should not be used to support fatalism or genetic determinism. On the contrary, the study offers a new kind of evidence about the roles that social institutions play in reproducing or ameliorating inequality.