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. 2017 Mar;47(2):202-214.
doi: 10.1007/s10519-016-9825-z. Epub 2016 Oct 28.

Using Twins to Better Understand Sibling Relationships

Katharine M Mark  1 , Alison Pike  2 , Rachel M Latham  2 , Bonamy R Oliver  2
Affiliations

Using Twins to Better Understand Sibling Relationships

Katharine M Mark et al. Behav Genet. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

We compared the nature of the sibling relationship in dyads of varying genetic relatedness, employing a behavioural genetic design to estimate the contribution that genes and the environment have on this familial bond. Two samples were used-the Sisters and Brothers Study consisted of 173 families with two target non-twin children (mean ages = 7.42 and 5.22 years respectively); and the Twins, Family and Behaviour study included 234 families with two target twin children (mean age = 4.70 years). Mothers and fathers reported on their children's relationship with each other, via a postal questionnaire (the Sisters and Brothers Study) or a telephone interview (the Twins, Family and Behaviour study). Contrary to expectations, no mean level differences emerged when monozygotic twin pairs, dizygotic twin pairs, and non-twin pairs were compared on their sibling relationship quality. Behavioural genetic analyses also revealed that the sibling bond was modestly to moderately influenced by the genetic propensities of the children within the dyad, and moderately to substantially influenced by the shared environment common to both siblings. In addition, for sibling negativity, we found evidence of twin-specific environmental influence-dizygotic twins showed more reciprocity than did non-twins. Our findings have repercussions for the broader application of results from future twin-based investigations.

Keywords: Behaviour genetics; Sibling relationship quality; Siblings; Twins.

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Conflict of interest statement

Katharine M. Mark, Alison Pike, Rachel M. Latham and Bonamy R. Oliver declares that she has no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Human and Animal Rights This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Informed Consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A univariate ACTE quantitative genetic model. Twin 1/Older Sibling and Twin 2/Younger Sibling are measured variables for the two twins/siblings—here, either mother reports of SRQ positivity, mother reports of SRQ negativity, father reports of SRQ positivity, or father reports of SRQ negativity, each for both twin 1/older sibling and twin 2/younger sibling. The latent variables A, C, T and E are the genetic factor, the shared environmental factor, the twin-specific environmental factor, and the non-shared environmental factor, respectively. The curved, two-headed arrows indicate correlations between the variables they connect; the one-headed straight arrows represent paths, standardised partial regressions of the measured variables on the latent variable
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