Abstract
Background: Twins offer social scientists a unique opportunity to understand the interplay of social factors and physical and mental well-being. TwinsUK is the largest UK registry of adult mono- and dy-zygotic twins, but most of the research that utilises the cohorts' data to date has focused on the genetic underpinnings of complex disease. Methods: Following formal unstructured discussions with social scientists we identified key areas of research interest and annotated the historical data collections in TwinsUK where they could be applied to these research aims. Results: We present a summary of variables identified as of key interest to researchers from the social science sphere, spanning the following domains: 1: Parenting, child rearing and pregnancies; 2: Working habits and patterns; 3: Sleeping habits and patterns; 4: Social support; 5: Negative life events; 6: Spousal relationships. Conclusions: TwinsUK has a wide range of genetic and health data that would allow investigation of research questions focusing on these domains.
Highlights
Twin studies enable researchers to disentangle and quantify the influences of relative contributions of genetic and early-life environmental factors to the variability of a trait
Materials and methods Ethical approval and consent The data which has been generated and provided in the report has been collected via questionnaires that had received ethical approval associated with TwinsUK Biobank (19/NW/0187), Twins UK (EC04/015) or Healthy Ageing Twin Study (H.A.T.S) (07/H0802/84) studies from NHS Research Ethics Committees at the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London
Following formal unstructured discussions with social scientists we identified key areas of research interest and annotated the historical data collections in TwinsUK where they could be applied to these research aims
Summary
Twin studies enable researchers to disentangle and quantify the influences of relative contributions of genetic and early-life environmental factors to the variability of a trait.
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