The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is an ongoing longitudinal

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 ...

based at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. The main goal of TEDS is to use behavioural genetic methods to find out how nature (

genes In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

) and nurture (environments) can explain why people differ with respect to their cognitive abilities, learning abilities and behaviours. The study was founded by Robert Plomin in 1994, and it includes participants from over 15,000 families. The original participants were identified from birth records among the set of twins born in

the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

from 1994 to 1996. They were first assessed at the age of two and regularly re-assessed thereafter. In 2021, Thalia Eley took over the study with Plomin stepping down as director. The goals of the next phase of the TEDS study will focus on the Children of the TEDS Group (CoTEDS) and will explore Eley's own research area on

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

References

External links

* Cohort studies Genetics in the United Kingdom King's College London Twin studies Genetics studies Population genetics organizations Longitudinal studies {{Genetics-stub