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Genetic and environmental influences on a measure of infant attachment security

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Deborah Finkel  and
Adam P Matheny Jr
Deborah Finkel*
Affiliation:
Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN. [email protected]
Adam P Matheny Jr
Affiliation:
University of Louisville, KY, USA.
*
*Correspondence: Deborah Finkel, PhD, Division of Social Sciences, Indiana University Southeast, 4201 Grant Line Road, New Albany, IN 47150, USA. Tel: 812 941 2668; Fax: 812 941 2591

Abstract

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A twin study of infant attachment security at age 24 months was conducted on archival data for a sample of 99 MZ pairs and 108 DZ pairs from the Louisville Twin Study. MZ concordance for attachment was 62.6%, which was significantly greater than the DZ concordance of 44.4%. Concordances were transformed into polychoric correlations, and LISREL was used to conduct a quantitative genetic analysis of the data. Results indicated that 25% of the variability in attachment was attributable to genetic factors, and the remaining 75% was attributable to non-shared environmental effects. No evidence was found for a contribution from shared environmental influences to attachment security. Possible concerns about the validity of twin methodology are addressed and various interpretations of the results are presented. Twin Research (2000) 3, 242–250.

Keywords

attachment securityheritabilitynon-shared environmenttwins
Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , 01 August 2000 , pp. 242 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000