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Heritability Estimates of Intelligence in Twins: Effect of Chorion Type

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Abstract

This study investigates the basic assumption of homogeneity of monozygotic (MZ) twins: are there differences according to the timing of the zygotic splitting, early in dichorionic (DC) and later in monochorionic (MC) pairs? We assessed the IQ of 451 same-sexed twin pairs of known zygosity and chorion type with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). The variances of within-pair differences were compared for monochorionic (MC), dichorionic monozygotic (DC-MZ) and dizygotic same-sexed (DZ) twins and structural equation modeling was applied. High heritability estimates were found for almost all subscales and IQ-scores. A significant effect of chorion type was found: the MC twins resembled each other more than the DC-MZ twins on the subscales Arithmetic and Vocabulary. The effect accounts for respectively 14% and 10% of the total variance.

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Author notes

  1. Nele Jacobs

    Present address: Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, University of Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200, MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

  2. Sofie Van Gestel

    Present address: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Antwerp (UIA), Antwerpen, Belgium

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Human Genetics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Nele Jacobs, Sofie Van Gestel, Catherine Derom & Robert Vlietinck

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, University of Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200, MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Evert Thiery

  3. Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Antwerp (UIA), Antwerpen, Belgium

    Evert Thiery & Robert Derom

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, N6A 5C2, Canada

    Philip Vernon

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  1. Nele Jacobs
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  2. Sofie Van Gestel
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  7. Robert Vlietinck
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Jacobs, N., Gestel, S.V., Derom, C. et al. Heritability Estimates of Intelligence in Twins: Effect of Chorion Type. Behav Genet 31, 209–217 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010257512183

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