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Relations between twins' similarity of appearance and behavioral similarity: Testing an assumption

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Abstract

Questionnaires rating twins' physical similarity and similarity of dress were obtained from the parents of 121 identical and 70 same-sex fraternal twin pairs. Within-pair difference scores on several behavioral measures (two intelligence tests, two perceptual tests, one reading test, one test of speech articulation, and one personality inventory) were correlated with the twins' scores for physical similarity and similarity of dress. The correlations revealed no systematic relation between the similarity of appearance and the similarity of behaviors for either the identical twin pairs or the same-sex fraternal twin pairs. The assumption that twins' behaviors are more alike because they are more similar in appearance does not seem warranted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Development Unit, University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, Room 111-H, Medical-Dental Research Building, P.O. Box 1055, 40201, Louisville, Kentucky

    Adam P. Matheny Jr., Ronald S. Wilson & Anne Brown Dolan

Authors
  1. Adam P. Matheny Jr.
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  2. Ronald S. Wilson
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  3. Anne Brown Dolan
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Additional information

This study was supported in part by funds from the Grant Foundation, Inc., the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times Foundation, the National Science Foundation (P2B 3098), and the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 23884)—R. S. Wilson, principal investigator.

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Matheny, A.P., Wilson, R.S. & Dolan, A.B. Relations between twins' similarity of appearance and behavioral similarity: Testing an assumption. Behav Genet 6, 343–351 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065729

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065729

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