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Neuroticism, extraversion, and related traits in adult twins reared apart and reared together.

Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyPublished 1 January 1988
Nancy L. Pedersen, Robert Plomin, Gerald E. McClearn, Lars Friberg
Citations226
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score3.87
SNIP3.12

Abstract

The relative importance of genetic and environmental factors for neuroticism, extraversion, impulsivity, and monotony avoidance were estimated in a sample of 99 monozygotic and 229 dizygotic pairs of twins reared apart (TRA) and a matched sample of 160 monozygotic and 212 dizygotic pairs of twins reared together (TRT). The average age was 58.6 (SD = 13.6); 72% of the twins were 50 or older. Model-fitting analyses verified the importance of genetic factors for all four measures; from 23% to 45% of the total variation was attributable to genetic sources. There was considerable evidence that these factors were operating in a nonadditive manner for extraversion and impulsivity. Shared environment accounted for less than 10% of the variance; some evidence for selective placement was found for neuroticism.

Keywords

Psychology