Constrained maximum likelihood analysis of familial resemblance of twins and their parents

Abstract

When the univariate twin design is extended by including parents of twins, it is possible to assess additive genetic effects in the presence of assortative mating and genotype-environment correlation, the effects of parental influence, as well as the extent of residual shared environmental influences. The analysis of data obtained in such an extended twin design can be carried out by means of constrained maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis. Specifically, the structural model underlying this design can be represented as a LISREL model with nonlinear constraints. This representation offers the possibility to consider extended multivariate twin designs involving common genetic and environmental factors. The proposed method will be illustrated with applications to simulated and real data.