Challenges and adaptations (WTP)  

Frequently Asked Questions General Questions What are you studying in the Wisconsin Twin Project? Why study twins? How do twin studies help families without twins? How did WTP get started? My twins are nothing alike, but the doctor said they are identical. How can that be? Participation Questions How many twins have been involved in your study? How old are the oldest twins in your project? How do you know who has had twins (how did you get my family's name)? Do you share phone numbers with other organizations or companies? Can families with twins who do not live in Wisconsin still participate? Can triplets or other multiples participate in your project? My twins are fraternal. Do you still want us to participate? If I participate now, do I have to participate again later? We are really busy. Do you do interviews on nights or visits on weekends? What happens after I participate? Will I get individual results about my twins? Home Visit Questions How many families do you visit? Who will be coming to my house? Why are you interested in getting information about parents and siblings? What will you do with the cheek cell samples? My twins are pretty (shy/outgoing/loud/quiet); I am not sure how the visit will go. Will my twins be able to take a break during the visit? Will I be able to watch my twins during the visit? Do I get the zygosity test results for my twins? How are the saliva samples used? General Questions Q: What are you studying in the Wisconsin Twin Project? A: The Wisconsin Twin Project (WTP) is a population-based longitudinal study of twins born in Wisconsin. Our research is focused on how experience and biology influence the emotions and behaviors of twins in the family context. We are interested in challenges and adaptive processes that contribute to child development. Q: Why study twins? A: Studying twins allows us to identify both genetic and environmental influences on child development. Identical twins share 100% of their genes and fraternal twins share, on average, 50% of their genes. We can look at behavior relationships between twin pairs and estimate the heritability of a certain trait or behavior. For example, if identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins on a given trait, we estimate that there is a stronger genetic influence on that trait. Twin methodology provides us with sophisticated analysis of genetic, environmental, and interaction effects on child development and related risk and protective factors. Q: How do twin studies help families without twins? A: One of the assumptions of twin studies is that twins are similar to other children, except that they share a birthday with a sibling the same age as them. Findings from twin studies are useful for understanding the development of all children. Your participation helps, as our findings educate all kinds of people who work with children. Some of those who benefit include teachers and educators, doctors, other childcare workers, those who form early intervention programs, and researchers. Q: How did WTP get started? A: WTP started in 1994 as a dissertation by Dr. Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant (then a graduate student) and grew from there. Now there are two professors, Dr. Hill Goldsmith and Dr. Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, in charge of WTP. In addition, full-time staff, graduate students, and about 30 undergraduate students support the project. Q: My twins are nothing alike, but the doctor said they are identical. How can that be? A: When someone says the twins are identical, they mean "genetically identical", not necessarily physically or emotionally. Oftentimes twins can share 100% of the same genes and have different likes and dislikes, or behave in different ways. This is because not everything is due to genetic influence. The environment is also very important in shaping many things about a person's likes, dislikes, talents, and behaviors. BACK TO TOP Participation Questions Q: How many twins have been involved in your study? A: There are between 800-900 twin pairs born in Wisconsin each year. WTP has over 9,000 families in its database. Q: How old are the oldest twins in your project? A: The oldest twins in our study were born in 1989, so some of our participants have already graduated high school! Q: How do you know who has had twins (how did you get my family's name)? A: We receive a list of families who have given birth to twins from the state Bureau of Health Information and Policy Vital Records Section about every six months. Q: Do you share phone numbers with other organizations or companies? A: No. All of the information we receive is strictly confidential. We do not share it with anyone. Q: Can families with twins who do not live in Wisconsin still participate? A: Families who live out of state can participate only if they gave birth to their twins in Wisconsin. Q: Can triplets or other multiples participate in your project? A: No. WTP is only a study of twins. Q: My twins are fraternal. Do you still want us to participate? A: Yes, we include all types of twins in our studies. It is important for us to be able to compare both identical and fraternal twins to understand child development. Q: If I participate now, do I have to participate again later? A: No. Your participation in any study is entirely voluntary. You may participate in any part of our research that interests you. Q: We are really busy. Do you do interviews on nights or visits on weekends? A: Yes, we are able to schedule interviews and home visits when they are most convenient for you. Q: What happens after I participate? A: Our research is on going, so we will use your confidential family identification number to add your survey answers to our database. Most of our research questions require a sample of 500-600 families, so it is often a long time before we can begin to write our final interpretations of the studies. Preliminary findings are provided in the Research Focus section of our WTP newsletter and presented at international child development conferences. Ultimately, we hope our findings can inform policy and program development to support healthy child development. Q: Will I get individual results about my twins? A: No. All information is compiled together so that we can compare group results. This provides us with information on twins as a whole. These results are presented periodically in our newsletter, books, and journals. Because the study is longitudinal, we will continue to compile and analyze data for many years. It will take several years before all of our data has been collected, scored, and published. We do however provide parents with the results of the zygosity tests for those twins participating in our School Age Assessment. BACK TO TOP Home Visit Questions Q: How many families do you visit? A: Between our School Age and Adolescent Assessments we have visited with over 700 families so far. Our goal is to visit about 800 families in our School Age Assessment and 600 families in our Adolescent Assessment. Q: Who will be coming to my house? A: A team of 3 to 5 staff people attend each visit. This team consists of trained undergraduate and graduate students and full-time personnel. Our students interact with many different twins, enabling them to conduct the visit smoothly. Q: Why are you interested in getting information about parents and siblings? A: We are interested in your twins' development and the best way to understand your twins' development is to understand how they are different or similar to other members of their family. Q: What will you do with the cheek cell samples? A: The cheek cell samples are used to extract a sample of your child's DNA. Our first goal is to test the twins' DNA samples to determine if they are genetically identical or fraternal. We will then test for genes that have been identified in the literature as possibly related to behavior. Of course, your participation in this aspect of the study is entirely voluntary and you may choose to be contacted before our testing of behavior-related genes begins. Q: My twins are pretty (shy/outgoing/loud/quiet); I am not sure how the visit will go. A: We do visits with all types of twins. Our experience has been very positive - kids and adolescents enjoy the games and interactions with our staff. Q: Will my twins be able to take a break during the visit? A: We allow plenty of flexibility with our schedule so we can tailor the visit to the needs of the twins. There are plenty of times to take a break, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, etc. Q: Will I be able to watch my twins during the visit? A: There are several activities we will be doing with you while the twins are playing games. It is also important that each of our visits be the same, so it is best that we interact with the twins without parents present. Q: Do I get the zygosity test results for my twins? A: Yes, for same sex twins we send the results of each family's zygosity tests (whether they are fraternal or identical) to the parents when the testing is complete. We are unsure as to exactly when the zygosity testing will be done, but are hopeful it will be soon. For this reason, it is important for families to stay in contact, giving us their new address and phone number if they move, so we can get the results to them. Q: How are the saliva samples used? A: We use the saliva samples collected by families to study a stress hormone called cortisol. Everyone has cortisol in their saliva and the levels fluctuate throughout the day. Cortisol levels are influenced by factors such as sleep, time, food, health, medication, and activity. We use the samples to will examine the relationship between cortisol levels and emotional development.