Examining the dimensions of intimacy in twin and peer relationships.

Abstract

While it is widely assumed that twinsh p involves high levels of intimacy to the detriment of other relationships, an examination of twinship using measures of intimacy has not yet been conducted. Participants were 214 individua twins (128 MZ, 62 DZ same-sex, and 24 DZ mixed-sex) between 16-73 years of age. Twins completed measures of intimacy in reference to their co-twin, their closest same-sex friend, and their closest other-sex friend. As expected, the highest level of intimacy was reported for the co-twin. Contrary to expectation, MZ twins did not report significantly higher levels of intimacy with their co-twin, or significantly lower levels of intimacy with their closest friends when compared to DZ same-sex or DZ mixed-sex twins. Furthermore, twins who reported high levels of intimacy with their co-twin did not report significantly lower levels of intimacy with their closest friends. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.