Strachan E, Poeschla B, Dansie E, Succop A, Chopko L, Afari N Pain is a complex phenomenon influenced by context and person-specific factors. Affective dimensions of pain involve both enduring personality traits and fleeting emotional states. We examined how personality traits and emotional states are linked with clinical and evoked pain in a twin sample. 99 […]
Vitaliano P, Strachan E, Dansie E, Goldberg J, Buchwald D Informal caregiving can be deleterious to mental health, but research results are inconsistent and may reflect an interaction between caregiving and vulnerability to stress.We examined psychological distress among 1,228 female caregiving and non-caregiving twins. By examining monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs discordant for caregiving, we […]
Godfrey KM, Strachan E, Dansie E, Crofford LJ, Buchwald D, Goldberg J, Poeschla B, Succop A, Noonan C, Afari N There is a dearth of knowledge about the link between cortisol and pain sensitivity. We examined the association of salivary cortisol with indices of cold pain sensitivity in 198 female twins and explored the role of […]
Schur E, Godfrey KM, Dansie E, Buchwald D, Pagoto S, Afari N This study examined if associations between body mass index (BMI) and mental and physical health were independent of genetic and familial factors. Data from 2831 twins (66% female) were used in an epidemiological co-twin control design with measures of BMI and mental and physical […]
Duncan GE, Dansie EJ, Strachan E, Munsell M, Huang R, Vernez Moudon A, Goldberg J, Buchwald D We used a classical twin design and measures of neighborhood walkability and social deprivation, using each twin’s street address, to examine genetic and environmental influences on the residential location of 1389 same-sex pairs from a US community-based twin […]
Dansie EJ, Heppner P, Furberg H, Goldberg J, Buchwald D, Afari N Data from primary care and community samples suggest higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This study investigated the co-occurrence of CFS, PTSD, and trauma symptoms and assessed the contribution of familial factors to the association of […]