Twin Research: Biology, Health, Epigenetics, and Psychology is a comprehensive, applied resource in twinning and twin studies that is grounded in the most impactful findings from twin research in recent years. While targeted to undergraduate and graduate students, this compendium will prove a valuable resource for scholars already familiar with twin studies, as well as those coming to the field for the first time. Here, more than forty experts across an array of disciplines examine twinning and twin research methodologies from the perspectives of biology, medicine, genetic and epigenetic influences, and neuroscience. Chapters provide clear instruction in both basic and advanced research methods, family and parenting aspects of twinning, twin studies as applied across various disease areas and medical specialties, genetic and epigenetic determinants of differentiation, and academic, neurological and cognitive development.
The presentation of existing studies and methods instruction empowers students and researchers to apply twin-based research and advance new studies across a range of biomedical and behavioral fields, highlighting current research trends and future directions.
1. Introduction to twin research for everyone: From biology to health, epigenetics, and psychology - p. Page x 2. List of Illustrations - p. Page xi 3. List of Tables - p. Page xii 4. Section1 : Background - p. Page xii 5. Chapter 1 : History of Twin Studies - p. Page xii 6. Chapter 2 : Prevalence of twinning worldwide - p. Page xii 7. Chapter 3 : Twin family registries worldwide - p. Page xii 8. Section2 : Phenomenon of Twinning - p. Page xii 9. Chapter 4 : Biology of natural twinning - p. Page xii 10. Chapter 5 : Management and outcome of twin pregnancies - p. Page xii 11. Chapter 6 : Conjoined twins - p. Page xii 12. Section3 : Twin Families - p. Page xii 13. Chapter7 : Growing up as twins: the perspectives of twin researchers - p. Page xii 14. Chapter 8 : Parenting twins, triplets, or more - p. Page xii 15. Chapter 9 : Reared apart twins: Background, research, case studies and what they reveal about human development - p. Page xii 16. Chapter10 : Opposite-sex twins in medical research - p. Page xii 17. Section4 : Twin Methodologies - p. Page xii 18. Chapter 11 : Establishing a resource for genetic, epidemiological, and biomarker studies: The important role of twin registers - p. Page xii 19. Chapter12 : Methodology of twin studies - p. Page xii 20. Chapter 13 : Twin studies of complex traits and diseases - p. Page xii 21. Chapter 14 : Use of twin studies to make inference about causation for measured exposures by examining familial confounding - p. Page xii 22. Chapter 15 : Twins in clinical trials - p. Page xii 23. Section5 : Behavior - p. Page xii 24. Chapter 16 : Twin studies in social science - p. Page xii 25. Chapter 17 : Childhood development of psychiatric disorders and related traits - p. Page xii 26. Chapter 18 : Happiness and well-being: The value and findings from genetic studies - p. Page xii 27. Chapter 19 : Twin study of personality - p. Page xii 28. Chapter 20 : Twin research in psychopathology - p. Page xii 29. Chapter 21 : Cognitive aging: the role of genes and environments in patterns of change - p. Page xii 30. Chapter 22 : Twin studies of smoking and tobacco use - p. Page xii 31. Section6 : Health - p. Page xii 32. Chapter 23 : Anthropometric twin studies - p. Page xii 33. Chapter24 : Twin studies of cardiorespiratory disease, daily cardiovascular activity and imaging - p. Page xii 34. Chapter 25 : Pediatric twin studies - p. Page xii 35. Chapter 26 : Twin-singleton differences - p. Page xii 36. Chapter27 : Twin studies of puberty and behavior - p. Page xii 37. Chapter28 : Musculoskeletal twin studies - p. Page xii 38. Chapter29 : Contributions of twin studies to cancer epidemiology - p. Page xii 39. Chapter30 : Epigenetic studies of neurodevelopment in twins - p. Page xii 40. Chapter31 : Contributions of twin research to the study of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias - p. Page xii 41. Section7 : Twin Research: Genetics, Epigenetics, Microbiome, and Environmental Adaptation - p. Page xii 42. Chapter 32 : Twins and omics: the role of twin studies in multi-omics - p. Page xii 43. Chapter 33 : Epigenetics - p. Page xii 44. Chapter34 : An experiment in cotwin control: Adaptation to space travel1 - p. Page xii 45. Chapter35 : Environmental risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders: Evidence from twin studies - p. Page xii 46. Chapter 36 : Microbiome studies and twin research - p. Page xii 47. Chapter37 : Chromosomal anomalies, monogenetic diseases, and leukaemia in twins - p. Page xii 48. Section8 : Conclusion - p. Page xii 49. Summary and concluding statement - p. Page xii 50. Appendix—Resources - p. Page xii 51. Index - p. Page xii
Twin Research: Biology, Health, Epigenetics, and Psychology is a comprehensive, applied resource in twinning and twin studies that is grounded in the most impactful findings from twin research in recent years. While targeted to undergraduate and graduate students, this compendium will prove a valuable resource for scholars already familiar with twin studies, as well as those coming to the field for the first time. Here, more than forty experts across an array of disciplines examine twinning and twin research methodologies from the perspectives of biology, medicine, genetic and epigenetic influences, and neuroscience. Chapters provide clear instruction in both basic and advanced research methods, family and parenting aspects of twinning, twin studies as applied across various disease areas and medical specialties, genetic and epigenetic determinants of differentiation, and academic, neurological and cognitive development.
The presentation of existing studies and methods instruction empowers students and researchers to apply twin-based research and advance new studies across a range of biomedical and behavioral fields, highlighting current research trends and future directions.
1. Introduction to twin research for everyone: From biology to health, epigenetics, and psychology - p. Page x 2. List of Illustrations - p. Page xi 3. List of Tables - p. Page xii 4. Section1 : Background - p. Page xii 5. Chapter 1 : History of Twin Studies - p. Page xii 6. Chapter 2 : Prevalence of twinning worldwide - p. Page xii 7. Chapter 3 : Twin family registries worldwide - p. Page xii 8. Section2 : Phenomenon of Twinning - p. Page xii 9. Chapter 4 : Biology of natural twinning - p. Page xii 10. Chapter 5 : Management and outcome of twin pregnancies - p. Page xii 11. Chapter 6 : Conjoined twins - p. Page xii 12. Section3 : Twin Families - p. Page xii 13. Chapter7 : Growing up as twins: the perspectives of twin researchers - p. Page xii 14. Chapter 8 : Parenting twins, triplets, or more - p. Page xii 15. Chapter 9 : Reared apart twins: Background, research, case studies and what they reveal about human development - p. Page xii 16. Chapter10 : Opposite-sex twins in medical research - p. Page xii 17. Section4 : Twin Methodologies - p. Page xii 18. Chapter 11 : Establishing a resource for genetic, epidemiological, and biomarker studies: The important role of twin registers - p. Page xii 19. Chapter12 : Methodology of twin studies - p. Page xii 20. Chapter 13 : Twin studies of complex traits and diseases - p. Page xii 21. Chapter 14 : Use of twin studies to make inference about causation for measured exposures by examining familial confounding - p. Page xii 22. Chapter 15 : Twins in clinical trials - p. Page xii 23. Section5 : Behavior - p. Page xii 24. Chapter 16 : Twin studies in social science - p. Page xii 25. Chapter 17 : Childhood development of psychiatric disorders and related traits - p. Page xii 26. Chapter 18 : Happiness and well-being: The value and findings from genetic studies - p. Page xii 27. Chapter 19 : Twin study of personality - p. Page xii 28. Chapter 20 : Twin research in psychopathology - p. Page xii 29. Chapter 21 : Cognitive aging: the role of genes and environments in patterns of change - p. Page xii 30. Chapter 22 : Twin studies of smoking and tobacco use - p. Page xii 31. Section6 : Health - p. Page xii 32. Chapter 23 : Anthropometric twin studies - p. Page xii 33. Chapter24 : Twin studies of cardiorespiratory disease, daily cardiovascular activity and imaging - p. Page xii 34. Chapter 25 : Pediatric twin studies - p. Page xii 35. Chapter 26 : Twin-singleton differences - p. Page xii 36. Chapter27 : Twin studies of puberty and behavior - p. Page xii 37. Chapter28 : Musculoskeletal twin studies - p. Page xii 38. Chapter29 : Contributions of twin studies to cancer epidemiology - p. Page xii 39. Chapter30 : Epigenetic studies of neurodevelopment in twins - p. Page xii 40. Chapter31 : Contributions of twin research to the study of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias - p. Page xii 41. Section7 : Twin Research: Genetics, Epigenetics, Microbiome, and Environmental Adaptation - p. Page xii 42. Chapter 32 : Twins and omics: the role of twin studies in multi-omics - p. Page xii 43. Chapter 33 : Epigenetics - p. Page xii 44. Chapter34 : An experiment in cotwin control: Adaptation to space travel1 - p. Page xii 45. Chapter35 : Environmental risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders: Evidence from twin studies - p. Page xii 46. Chapter 36 : Microbiome studies and twin research - p. Page xii 47. Chapter37 : Chromosomal anomalies, monogenetic diseases, and leukaemia in twins - p. Page xii 48. Section8 : Conclusion - p. Page xii 49. Summary and concluding statement - p. Page xii 50. Appendix—Resources - p. Page xii 51. Index - p. Page xii
