The Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research (MCTFR) is a series of behavioral genetic

longitudinal studies A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of observation ...

of families with twin or adoptive offspring conducted by researchers at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. It seeks to identify and characterize the genetic and environmental influences on the development of

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

traits. Principal investigators include

Matt McGue Matt McGue is an American behavior geneticist and Regents Professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, where he co-directs the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research. Career McGue received his B.A. in psychology (minor: mathe ...

William Iacono William George Iacono is an American psychologist known for his research in behavior genetics. He uses methodologies such as twin and adoption studies, to study the development of common mental disorders and substance abuse. He has also researc ...

, and Kevin Haroian.

Cohorts

The primary cohorts of participants include the Minnesota Twin Family Study, Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study, Minnesota Twin Registry, and a variety of other cohorts of participants.

Minnesota Twin Family Study

MTFS is a

twin study Twin studies are studies conducted on identical or fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders. Twin research is considered a key tool in behavioral genetics ...

established in June 1989 with 1300 same-gendered twin pairs age 11 or 17, with an additional cohort of 500 such pairs recruited around 2004. Twins were born between 1972 and 2000. All twins born in Minnesota at that time were eligible to participate using birth registry data. Both identical and fraternal twins share certain aspects of their environment. This allows researchers to estimate the relative impact of environmental and genetic influences on

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...

s. The focus of the MTFS is on behavioral phenotypes, such as academic outcomes, cognitive abilities, personality, and interests; family and social relationships; mental and physical health; physiological measurements. The assessment wave structure and protocol are similar to the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (below), allowing the use of complementary twin and adoption designs to address behavioral genetic questions.

Minnesota Twin Registry

The Minnesota Twin Registry was established in 1983. Its original goal was to establish a registry of all twins born in Minnesota from 1936 to 1955 to be used for psychological research. Recently, it has added twins born between 1961 and 1964. It primarily conducts personality and interests tests with its 8,000+ twin pairs and family members via mail. From this project, it was able to confirm that twins and their families are representative of the population and that a poll of their opinions would be more accurate than polls in the newspaper.

Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study

The Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (SIBS) is a study of >600 adoptive and non-adoptive families. The

adoption study Adoption studies typically compare pairs of persons, e.g., adopted child and adoptive mother or adopted child and biological mother, to assess genetic and environmental influences on behavior. These studies are one of the classic research methods o ...

design allows one to disentangle the environmental and genetic influences on a

, including psychological phenotypes. The assessment wave structure and protocol are similar to the Minnesota Twin Family Study, allowing the use of complementary study designs to answer a given question.

Other behavioral genetic studies at the University of Minnesota

Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart

The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart was a twin study conducted at the University of Minnesota, independent of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research. In 1979,

Thomas J. Bouchard Thomas J. Bouchard Jr. (born October 3, 1937) is an American psychologist known for his behavioral genetics studies of twins raised apart. He is professor emeritus of psychology and director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research ...

began to study twins who were separated at birth and reared in different families. He found that an identical twin reared away from his or her co-twin seems to have about an equal chance of being similar to the co-twin in terms of personality, interests, and attitudes as one who has been reared with his or her co-twin. Bouchard has said that these two twins happened to be unusually alike, while most twins show more differences: Psychologists now refer to studies such as this as an Adoption Strategy. Partial funding for the study was obtained through a research grant from the

Pioneer Fund The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. The Southern Pover ...

. *

References

External links

Minnesota Center for Twin & Family Research
1983 establishments in Minnesota Genetics studies Race and intelligence controversy Twin studies University of Minnesota Longitudinal studies Behavioural genetics