Minnesota Twin Research Articles

Supplemental Material for Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Adult Attachment Styles: Evidence From the Minnesota Twin Registry

Supplemental Material for Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Adult Attachment Styles: Evidence From the Minnesota Twin Registry

Maladaptive personality traits and older adult relationship satisfaction: A co-twin control approach to understanding associations.

Maladaptive personality traits have been implicated in romantic relationship dissatisfaction, but the etiology of those links and the degree to which they extend to other types of relationships are unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between maladaptive personality traits and satisfaction in various relationships using a co-twin control design to identify potential environmental contributions. The sample consisted of 1340 older adult twin participants from the Minnesota Twin Registry (Mage = 70.3) that completed the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Faceted Brief Form and Network of Relationships Inventory (Revised for Older Adults). Several maladaptive personality traits were phenotypically associated with relationship dissatisfaction, with detachment and negative affect having the largest effects. Further, within twin pair differences in detachment and negative affect were associated with greater relationship dissatisfaction, suggesting that observed associations were mediated partly by the unique environment, not solely the result of genetic and familial confounding. Both phenotypic and co-twin associations were strongest overall in the romantic partner relationship. These findings support the notion that maladaptive personality traits are implicated in interpersonal dysfunction across multiple domains.

Shifting goalposts: widening discrepancies between girls' actual and ideal bodies predict disordered eating from preadolescence to adulthood.

Little is known regarding how disordered eating (DE) relates to perceived actual body size, ideal body size, and their discrepancy. This study examined changes in perceived actual body size, ideal body size, and actual-ideal discrepancies over time, and their relationship with subsequent DE. Participants were 759 female twins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study who reported on body image and DE every three to five years between approximately ages 11 to 29. We used multilevel modeling to examine developmental trajectories of body mass index (BMI) and Body Rating Scale Actual, Ideal, and Actual-Ideal discrepancy scores and compared the degree to which BMI, BRS body size perceptions, and body dissatisfaction predicted DE behaviors and attitudes over time. Participants were treated as singletons in analyses. Perceived Actual body sizes and BMIs increased from age 10 to 33, whereas Ideal body sizes remained largely stable across time, resulting in growing Actual-Ideal discrepancies. Body size perceptions and Actual-Ideal discrepancies predicted subsequent DE behaviors and attitudes more strongly than did body dissatisfaction as measured by self-report questionnaires. This research advances understanding of how female body size perceptions and ideals change across development and highlights their relationship with subsequent DE.

Connecting loneliness with pathological personality traits: Evidence for genetic and environmental mediation from a study of older twins.

Loneliness has broad public health importance, especially in older adulthood, and there is some evidence suggesting it is associated with several personality disorders (PDs). The etiology of these PD-loneliness associations, however, has rarely been studied, especially in the context of the maladaptive traits of the DSM-5 alternative model of personality disorder (AMPD). To address these limitations, we estimated phenotypic, genetic, and unique environmental associations between loneliness and maladaptive personality traits in a sample of older adults from the Minnesota Twin Registry (n = 1,356, Mage = 70.4). Loneliness was moderately to strongly associated with each of the AMPD domains of negative affect, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism (r = .22-.58), with evidence of both genetic (rg = .45-.75) and unique environmental (re = .10-.48) influences explaining the associations to varying degrees. We argue that loneliness may be an underappreciated concomitant of personality pathology, with PD traits perhaps underlying its development. Indeed, these findings suggest that loneliness may be a manifestation of the genetic and environmental forces that also lead to pathological personality variation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Trajectories and Personality Predictors of Eating-Pathology Development in Girls From Preadolescence to Adulthood

Understanding eating-pathology development may enable meaningful prescriptions for its prevention. Here, we identified common trajectories of eating-pathology development and the personality factors associated with these trajectories. Participants were 760 female twins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study who reported on eating pathology at approximate ages 11, 14, 18, 20, 24, and 29. Parents reported on twins’ personality characteristics at age 11, and twins completed self-report personality questionnaires at ages 14 and 18. Latent class growth analysis identified two distinct trajectories for total eating pathology, binge eating, and weight preoccupation and three distinct trajectories for body dissatisfaction. Girls with more pathological trajectories already showed elevated eating pathology at age 11. These subgroups of high-risk girls self-reported greater proneness to anxiety, stress, and alienation, and less sociable personality styles. Prevention efforts may be enhanced by using self-reported personality traits to identify girls at high risk for eating pathology.

E. James West. Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America.

Journal Article E. James West. Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America. Get access E. James West. Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2020. Pp. x, 193. Paper $24.95. Sid Bedingfield Sid Bedingfield University of Minnesota Twin Cities, US Email: sbedingf@umn.edu Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 128, Issue 2, June 2023, Pages 1014–1015, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhad210 Published: 22 June 2023

Numbers Do Not Tell the Whole Story.

University of Minnesota Wilson Library: University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minnetonka, Minnesota Funding/Support: None reported. Financial Support: None reported. Correspondence: Ann C. Lowry, M.D., University of Minnesota Wilson Library: University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 3985 Plymouth Road, Minnetonka, Minnesota 55305. Email: [email protected]

The case for rage: Why anger is essential to anti‐racist struggle. By MyishaCherry. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2021, 203pp. £14.99/$19.95, ISBN 978‐0‐19‐755734‐1

European Journal of PhilosophyEarly View BOOK REVIEW The case for rage: Why anger is essential to anti-racist struggle. By Myisha Cherry. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2021, 203pp. £14.99/$19.95, ISBN 978-0-19-755734-1 Naomi Scheman, Corresponding Author Naomi Scheman (she/her/hers) [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0001-7519-6093 Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Correspondence Naomi Scheman, Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 271 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author Naomi Scheman, Corresponding Author Naomi Scheman (she/her/hers) [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0001-7519-6093 Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Correspondence Naomi Scheman, Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 271 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author First published: 16 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12864Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue RelatedInformation

C&EN talks with Shyamala Rajender, chemist, lawyer, and memoir author

When male faculty and administrators started attacking Shyamala Rajender’s character, she relied on one of chemists’ great weapons to prove them wrong: her detailed lab notebooks. Those notes, along with others the then-postdoctoral fellow kept about her daily activities, helped Rajender rebut claims University of Minnesota Twin Cities faculty and administrators made to justify the Chemistry Department’s decision not to hire her as a tenure-track faculty member—despite initial promises that it would. Those attacks were launched during Rajender’s 1973 lawsuit against the university for sex discrimination, a case that was later expanded into a class action. After almost a decade, she won that case, and the settlement required the university to hire more female faculty, especially in the Chemistry Department. The case also helped dozens of women get restitution for jobs, promotion, or pay raises they did not get. “I haven’t regretted it one bit ever since,” remembers Rajender, who

Fostering social justice leaders through the social action, leadership and transformation (SALT) model

Fostering social justice leaders through the social action, leadership and transformation (SALT) model

The Concept of Resistance to Substance Use and a Research Approach: The Resist! Project.

Illicit substance use is dangerous in both acute and chronic forms, frequently resulting in lethal poisoning, addiction, and other negative consequences. Similar to research in other psychiatric conditions, whose ultimate goal is to enable effective prevention and treatment, studies in substance use are focused on factors elevating the risk for the disorder. The rapid growth of the substance use problem despite the effort invested in fighting it, however, suggests the need in changing the research approach. Instead of attempting to identify risk factors, whose neutralization is often infeasible if not impossible, it may be more promising to systematically reverse the perspective to the factors enhancing the aspect of liability to disorder that shares the same dimension but is opposite to risk, that is, resistance to substance use. Resistance factors, which enable the majority of the population to remain unaffected despite the ubiquity of psychoactive substances, may be more amenable to translation. While the resistance aspect of liability is symmetric to risk, the resistance approach requires substantial changes in sampling (high-resistance rather than high-risk) and using quantitative indices of liability. This article provides an overview and a practical approach to research in resistance to substance use/addiction, currently implemented in a NIH-funded project. The project benefits from unique opportunities afforded by the data originating from two longitudinal twin studies, the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent and Behavioral Development and the Minnesota Twin Family Study. The methodology described is also applicable to other psychiatric disorders.

ACRL candidates for 2023: A look at who’s running

Leo S. Lo is the Dean and Professor of the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico, a position he has held since September 2021. Prior to this, Lo served as Associate Dean, Learning, Undergraduate Services and Commonwealth Campus Libraries, Pennsylvania State University (2019–2021), Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning, Old Dominion University, (2016–2019) and Head of the McLure Education Library and Associate Professor at the University of Alabama (2014–2016). Elisandro (Alex) Cabada is an Assistant Professor, Emerging Technologies and Immersive Scholarship Librarian, and Director of the Grainger IDEA Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a position he has held in some capacity since 2016. Cabada has held several other positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, including Medical and Bioengineering Librarian (2018–2022) and Interim Head, Mathematics Library (2020–2022). Prior to this, Cabada served as Engineering and Innovation Librarian at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (2017–2018). Before 2017, Cabada was Library Support Staff (2007–2017) and a Library Student Assistant (2000–2005) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Familial resemblance, citizenship, and counterproductive work behavior: A combined twin, adoption, parent-offspring, and spouse approach.

Given the well-documented importance of counterproductive workplace behavior and organizational citizenship behavior (together nontask performance), it is important to clarify the degree to which these behaviors are attributable to organizational climate versus preexisting individual differences. Such clarification informs where these behaviors stem from, and consequently has practical implications for organizations (e.g., guiding prioritization of selection criteria). We investigated familial resemblance for nontask performance among twins, nontwin and adoptive siblings, parents and offspring, and midlife and late-life couples drawn from two, large-scale studies: the Minnesota Twin Family Study and the Sibling Interaction Behavior Study. Similarity among family members' (e.g., parents-offspring, siblings) engagement in nontask performance was assessed to estimate the degree to which preexisting individual differences (i.e., genetic variability) and the environment (i.e., environmentality) accounted for variation in counterproductive and citizenship behavior. We found that degree of familial resemblance for nontask performance increased with increasing genetic relationship. Nonetheless, genetically identical individuals correlated only moderately in their workplace behavior (r = .29-.40), highlighting the importance of environmental differences. Notably, family members were more similar in their counterproductive than citizenship behavior, suggesting citizenship behavior is comparatively more environmentally influenced. Spouse/partner similarity for nontask behavior was modest and did not vary between midlife and late-life couples, suggesting spousal influence on nontask performance is limited. These findings offer insight to organizations regarding the degree of nature (individual differences) and nurture (including organizational factors) influences on nontask performance, which has implications for the selection of interventions (e.g., relative value of applicant selection or incumbent interventions). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A Blueprint for Genetic Determinism

A Blueprint for Genetic Determinism

First 3D-printed, flexible OLED display uses interesting materials mix

Last month, researchers from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities had a paper published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Science Advances, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), on their development of the first fully 3D-printed, flexible OLED display. It features a very interesting mix of materials.

Imperfect and Flexible: Using Trauma-Informed Practice to Guide Instruction

The rapid shift to online courses at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN) in spring 2020 prompted a change in the way instruction librarians worked with faculty and students. The librarians adopted a trauma-informed approach that provided students with a sense of stability, agency, and connection to the university and one another. UMN librarians increased the variety and number of online library workshops, reused content in new ways for online orientation and instruction, and created a choose-your-own-adventure e-book for first-year courses. After a chaosfilled year, the authors share their plans, progress, successes, failures, and hopes for the future.

Health endowments, schooling allocation in the family, and longevity: Evidence from US twins

We analyze data from the Minnesota Twin Registry (MTR), combined with the Socioeconomic Survey of Twins (SST), and new mortality data, and contribute to two bodies of literature. First, we demonstrate a beneficial causal effect of education on health and longevity in contrast to other twin-based studies of the US population, which show little or no effect of education on health. Second, we present evidence that is consistent with parental compensation through education for differences in their children’s endowments that predict health, but find no evidence that parents reinforce differences in endowments that predict earnings. We argue that there is a bias towards detecting reinforcement both in this paper and in the literature. Despite this bias, we still find statistical evidence of compensating behavior. We account for observed and unobserved confounding factors, sample selection bias, and measurement error in education.

Alcohol and nicotine polygenic scores are associated with the development of alcohol and nicotine use problems from adolescence to young adulthood.

Molecular genetic studies of alcohol and nicotine use have identified many genome-wide association study (GWAS) loci. We measured associations between drinking and smoking polygenic scores (PGS) and trajectories of alcohol and nicotine use outcomes from late childhood to early adulthood, substance-specific versus broader-liability PGS effects, and if PGS performance varied for consumption versus problematic substance use. We fitted latent growth curve models with structured residuals to scores on measures of alcohol and nicotine use and problems from ages 14 to 34 years. We then estimated associations between the intercept (initial status) and slope (rate of change) parameters and PGSs for drinks per week (DPW), problematic alcohol use (PAU), cigarettes per day (CPD) and ever being a regular smoker (SMK), controlling for sex and genetic principal components. All data were analyzed in the United States. PGSs were calculated for participants of the Minnesota Twin Family Study (n = 3225) using results from the largest GWAS of alcohol and nicotine consumption and problematic use to date. Each PGS was associated with trajectories of use for their respective substances [i.e. DPW (βmean = 0.08; βrange = 0.02-0.12) and PAU (βmean = 0.12; βrange = -0.02 to 0.31) for alcohol; CPD (βmean = 0.08; βrange = 0.04-0.14) and SMK (βmean = 0.18; βrange = 0.05-0.36) for nicotine]. The PAU and SMK PGSs also exhibited cross-substance associations (i.e. PAU for nicotine-specific intercepts and SMK for alcohol intercepts and slope). All identified SMK PGS effects remained as significant predictors of nicotine and alcohol trajectories (βmean = 0.15; βrange = 0.02-0.33), even after adjusting for the respective effects of all other PGSs. Substance use-related polygenic scores (PGSs) vary in the strength and generality versus specificity of their associations with substance use and problems over time. The regular smoking PGS appears to be a robust predictor of substance use trajectories and seems to measure both nicotine-specific and non-specific genetic liability for substance use, and potentially externalizing problems in general.

Development of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire-55 abbreviated research scales.

The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) is a normal range inventory for assessing a variety of empirically derived primary traits. These trait scores can be differentially weighted to estimate higher-order broad dimensions such as Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON). However, broad trait scores are estimated using proprietary regression equations and necessitate near complete administration of the inventory. We aimed to increase measurement efficiency by creating abbreviated item-based approximations of these weighted scores. To parsimoniously delineate and differentiate the broad traits, classical test theory and item response theory approaches were used to identify five items from each primary trait scale approximating the weighted estimates while also maintaining the breadth of MPQ content coverage. Initial scale development relied on the MPQ-276 (standard form) normative sample (n = 1,237), which was followed by cross-validation using two samples of twins and cotwins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (n = 1,304, n = 1,305). Additional validation was conducted using a third sample of undergraduate students (n = 201).The resulting item-based scales (PEM-20, NEM-15, CON-15) demonstrated strong convergence with the established proprietary broad trait estimates. Furthermore, these abbreviated scales exhibited similar associations with the external measures of personality and psychopathology. Abbreviated item-based scales may have utility for efficient estimation of the same broadband personality dimensions assessed by longer forms of the MPQ. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Macromastia as a Cause of Chronic Back Pain.

Journal of Women's HealthVol. 30, No. 10 Clinical Q & AMacromastia as a Cause of Chronic Back PainSarah A. Layon, Lacey R. Pflibsen, Samantha Maasarani, and Shelley S. NolandSarah A. LayonAddress correspondence to: Sarah A. Layon, BS, Medical School, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. E-mail Address: layon005@umn.eduhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3710-3922Medical School, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.Search for more papers by this author, Lacey R. Pflibsenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1267-5588Division of Plastic Surgery, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.Search for more papers by this author, Samantha MaasaraniDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.Search for more papers by this author, and Shelley S. NolandDivision of Plastic Surgery, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:5 Oct 2021https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2021.0405AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View articleFiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byBody mass index and benign breast surgeries: a survey of plastic surgeons’ knowledge and attitudesJPRAS Open, Vol. 15Supportive, Fitted, and Comfortable Bras for Individuals with Atypical Breast Shape/Size: Review of the Challenges and Proposed Roadmap24 October 2022 | Textiles, Vol. 2, No. 4 Volume 30Issue 10Oct 2021 InformationCopyright 2021, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishersTo cite this article:Sarah A. Layon, Lacey R. Pflibsen, Samantha Maasarani, and Shelley S. Noland.Macromastia as a Cause of Chronic Back Pain.Journal of Women's Health.Oct 2021.1372-1374.http://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2021.0405Published in Volume: 30 Issue 10: October 5, 2021Online Ahead of Print:September 8, 2021PDF download