A test of the equal environment assumption (EEA) in multivariate twin studies
Open accessAbstract
Abstract In the classic twin design, estimation of genetic and environmental effects is based on the assumption that environmental influences are shared to the same extent by monozygotic and dizygotic twins (equal environment assumption, EEA). We explore the conditions in which the EEA can be tested based on multivariate phenotypic data. We focus on the test whether the correlation between shared environmental factors in dizygotic twins ( r C ) is less than 1. First, model identification was investigated analytically in Maple and Mx. Second, statistical power was examined in Mx. Third, the amount of bias caused by violation of the EEA was evaluated. Finally, applications to empirical data concern spatial ability in adolescents and aggression in children. Bivariate and trivariate models include several instances in which the EEA can be tested. The number of twin pairs that is needed to detect violation of the EEA with a statistical power of .80 (α = .05) varied between 508 and 3576 pairs for the situations considered. The bias in parameter estimates, given misspecification, ranged from 5% to 34% for additive genetic effects, and from 4% to 34% for shared environmental effects. Estimates of the nonshared environmental effects were not biased. The EEA was not violated for spatial ability or aggression. Multivariate data provide sufficient information to test the validity of the EEA. The number of twin pairs that is needed is no greater than the number typically available in most twin registries. The analysis of spatial ability and aggression indicated no detectable violation of the EEA.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The equal environments assumption has been tested and found to hold for various phenotypes including aggressive behavior.
“The EEA has been tested and found to hold for various phenotypes including aggressive behavior, and twins and singletons have been found to display similar scores on aggressive behavior, suggesting that findings from twin studies can be generalized to other populations.”
From Human Aggression Across the Lifespan (2011) · cites this paper as Derks et al., 2006
Cites
Sources of human psychological differences: the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart
Bouchard, T. J., Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., & Tellegen, A. (1990) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.2218526 · Cited by 1,373 · see citing works
Heredity, Environment, and Personality
Loehlin, J. C., & Nichols, R. C. (1976) · University of Texas Press eBooks · doi:10.7560/730038 · Cited by 821 · see citing works
The genetic epidemiology of bulimia nervosa.
(1991) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.148.12.1627 · Cited by 631 · see citing works
Kendler, K. S., Karkowski, L. M., Neale, M. C., & Prescott, C. A. (2000) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.57.3.261 · Cited by 503 · see citing works
Heck, A. (1993) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-0023-6 · Cited by 438 · see citing works
Netherlands Twin Register: A Focus on Longitudinal Research
Boomsma, D. I., Vink, J. M., Beijsterveldt, T. C. E. M. V., de Geus, E. J. C., Beem, A. L., Mulder, E. J. C. M., Derks, E. M., Riese, H., Willemsen, G. A. H. M., Bartels, M., et al. (2002) · Twin Research · doi:10.1375/136905202320906174 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Self-citationTwin method: Defense of a critical assumption
Scarr, S. W., & Carter‐Saltzman, L. (1979) · Behavior Genetics · doi:10.1007/bf01067349 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Sexual Orientation in a U.S. National Sample of Twin and Nontwin Sibling Pairs
Kendler, K. S., Thornton, L. M., Gilman, S. E., et al. (2000) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.157.11.1843 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Physical similarity and the equal-environment assumption in twin studies of psychiatric disorders
Hettema, J. M., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (1995) · Behavior Genetics · doi:10.1007/bf02197281 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Kendler, K. S., & Gardner, C. O. (1998) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291798006643 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Nature, Nurture, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Faraone, S., & Biederman, J. (2000) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1006/drev.2000.0515 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Rowe, R., Pickles, A. R., Simonoff, E. A., Bulik, C. M., & Silberg, J. L. (2002) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01257-4 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Xian, H., Scherrer, J. F., Eisen, S. A., True, W. R., Heath, A. C., Goldberg, J. H., Lyons, M. J., & Tsuang, M. T. (2000) · Behavior Genetics · doi:10.1023/a:1026549417364 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Not in Their Genes: A Critical View of the Genetics of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Joseph, J. (2000) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1006/drev.2000.0511 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
The genetic epidemiology of body attitudes, the attitudinal component of body image in women
Wade, T. D., WILKINSON, J., & Ben-Tovim, D. I. (2003) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291703008572 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Has the “Equal Environments” Assumption Been Tested in Twin Studies?
Eaves, L. J., Foley, D. L., & Silberg, J. L. (2003) · Twin Research · doi:10.1375/twin.6.6.486 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Autism spectrum disorders and autistic traits: A decade of new twin studies
Ronald, A., & Hoekstra, R. A. (2011) · American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics · doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.31159 · Cited by 616 · see citing works
Familial Aggregation of Atrial Fibrillation: A Study in Danish Twins
Christophersen, I. E., Ravn, L. S., Budtz-Joergensen, E., Skytthe, A., Haunsoe, S., Svendsen, J. H., & Christensen, K. (2009) · Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology · doi:10.1161/circep.108.786665 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Human Aggression Across the Lifespan
Tuvblad, C., & Baker, L. A. (2011) · Advances in Genetics · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-380858-5.00007-1 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
“, 2011) as well as aggressive behavior (Derks et al., 2006).”
BackgroundSocial Science Methods for Twins Data: Integrating Causality, Endowments, and Heritability
Kohler, H.-P., Behrman, J. R., & Schnittker, J. (2011) · Biodemography and Social Biology · doi:10.1080/19485565.2011.580619 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Minică, C. C., Dolan, C. V., Boomsma, D. I., de Geus, E., & Neale, M. C. (2018) · Behavior Genetics · doi:10.1007/s10519-018-9904-4 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Self-citationLacourse, E., Boivin, M., Brendgen, M., Petitclerc, A., Girard, A., Vitaro, F., Paquin, S., Ouellet-Morin, I., Dionne, G., & Tremblay, R. E. (2014) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291713003218 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Electroencephalography profiles as a biomarker of wellbeing: A twin study
Chilver, M. R., Keller, A. S., Park, H. R. P., Jamshidi, J., Montalto, A., Schofield, P. R., Clark, C. R., Harmon-Jones, E., Williams, L. M., & Gatt, J. M. (2020) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.04.010 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
- Authors
- Derks, E. M., Dolan, C. V., & Boomsma, D. I.
- Affiliations
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Derks, Eske M.
- Venue
- Twin Research and Human Genetics
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2006-06-01
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 403-411
- ISSN
- 1832-4274 (ISSN-L)
- 1839-2628
- OpenAlex
- W4250719345
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 2.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Twin Research and Human Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Digital Academic REpository of VU University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (904–57–94, 575-25-012, 575-25-006)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-58799)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Assisted Reproductive Technology and Twin Pregnancy
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- shared environment, monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, system identification, statistical power, parameter bias, nonshared environment, spatial ability, aggression, genetic and environmental effects
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Mental Disorders, Biometry, Child, Computer Simulation, Diseases in Twins, Environment, Humans, Models, Genetic, Phenotype, Psychomotor Performance, Twins, Models, Statistical, Multivariate Analysis, Twin Studies as Topic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
