Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:988-990
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Twin relationships and depression
M Paluszny, ML Selzer, A Vinokur and L Lewandowski
The authors investigated closeness and other variables measuring depression
in 22 identical and 13 fraternal twin pairs. Each twin rated him/herself on
a two-part questionnaire; part 1 included questions on demographic
characteristics and the twin relationship, and part 2, the Zung Self-Rating
Depression Scale, measured depressive symptoms. There was a high degree of
agreement across all variables for the total sample, and degrees of
depression were comparable to that in the general population. Closeness was
found to be inversely correlated with depression. The authors suggest that
future studies include other groups (siblings, spouses, etc.) and follow-up
data.
