FY21

Genetic and environmental influences on posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and disinhibited eating behaviors

Afari N, Gasperi M, Dochat C, Wooldridge JS, Herbert MS, Schur EA, Buchwald DS. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders (ED) frequently co-occur, but the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. EDs are characterized by features of maladaptive eating behaviors including disinhibited eating and cognitive dietary restraint. Identifying the genetic overlap between PTSD symptoms […]

Is COVID-19 keeping us up at night? Stress, anxiety, and sleep among adult twins

Tsang S, Avery AR, Seto EYW, Duncan GE In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of social distancing measures to mitigate the virus outbreak have been implemented. These measures may have unintended consequences on individuals’ well-being, such as increased stress, anxiety, and sleep disruptions. We investigated the extent to which individuals’ mental health status […]

Fear and depression linked to COVID-19 exposure A study of adult twins during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tsang S, Avery AR, Duncan GE. Millions of people have been impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic worldwide. High infection rates and death tolls, combined with social distancing measures, may have unintended psychological consequences on individuals. The goal of this study was to examine the interrelations between COVID-19 exposure, fear of COVID-19, and depression […]

Association Between Low Back Pain and Body Mass Index in Adult Twins: An analysis of monozygotic and dizygotic twins of the Washington State Twin Registry

Liechty A, Tsang S, Turkheimer E, Duncan GE. Background Context LBP is a common and significant cause of disability worldwide, however; questions about cause still remain. Purpose To investigate the association between low back pain (LBP), body mass index (BMI), and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a twin sample. Study Design Cross sectional […]

Stress, Anxiety, and Change in Alcohol Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings Among Adult Twin Pairs

Avery AR, Tsang S, Seto EYW, Duncan GE. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted the lives of people worldwide since being declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Social restrictions aimed at flattening the curve may be associated with an increase in stress and anxiety, which may increase the use of alcohol as a coping […]

Central and Peripheral Symptoms in Network Analysis are Differentially Heritable A Twin Study of Anxious Misery

Olatunji BO, Christian C, Strachan E, Levinson CA. Background Evidence suggests that depression and anxiety disorders are genetically based. Although symptoms of these internalizing disorders tend to correlate, the degree to which the related symptoms are heritable is unclear. This overlap has been conceptualized as Anxious Misery and existing research examining similar constructs of negative […]

Perceived change in physical activity levels and mental health during COVID-19: Findings among adult twin pairs

Duncan GE, Avery AR, Seto E, Tsang S Background Physical distancing and other COVID-19 pandemic mitigation strategies may have unintended consequences on a number of health behaviors and health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between perceived change in physical activity or exercise and mental health outcomes over the short-term […]

Psychometric and Classification Properties of the Peas in a Pod Questionnaire

Avery AR, Turkheimer E, Tsang S, Duncan GE We examined the item properties of the Two Peas Questionnaire (TPQ) among a sample of same-sex twin pairs from the Washington State Twin Registry. With the exception of the ‘two peas’ item, three of the mistakenness items showed differential item functioning. Results showed that the monozygotic (MZ) […]

Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment: an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts

Silventoinen K, Jelenkovic A, Sund R, et al. We investigated the heritability of educational attainment and how it differed between birth cohorts and cultural-geographic regions. A classical twin design was applied to pooled data from 28 cohorts representing 16 countries and including 193,518 twins with information on educational attainment at 25 years of age or […]