National Volunteer Research Articles

Presidential Address

During his travels through the United States in the early-nineteenth century, Alexis de Tocqueville, in his reflections on civil society and attempts to capture the essence of its culture and values, famously noted the American spirit of voluntary cooperation. At a time when the national government was truly small, Tocqueville (1899) observed that, “When an American asks for the co-operation of his fellow-citizens, it is seldom refused, and I have often seen it afforded spontaneously andwith great goodwill . . . The Americans, who are always cold and often coarse in their manners, seldom show insensibility; and if they do not proffer services eagerly, yet they do not refuse to render them” (p. 185). Due largely to the economic crisis of the Great Recession that began in late 2007 and whose effects continue to the present day, we are currently witnessing deep cutbacks in social services and staunch opposition to tax increases (National Public Radio 2011; Rasmussen Reports 2011). As a consequence, it is no longer tenable to believe that themost creative solutions to society’s most vexing problems will come from government programs. Obviously the state has a duty to play a major role in addressing societal issues on a large scale, particularly in the areas of public safety, public health, and unemployment. But given today’s strained political and economic climate, nongovernmental voluntary effort is clearly the more reasonable and sensible strategy to take. The fact is that there are currently tens of thousands of citizens involved in voluntary community service throughout the country (Corporation for National and Community Service 2011). Indeed, the national volunteer rate in 2010 was 26 percent, with nearly 63 million volunteers serving. These volunteers dedicated over 8 billion hours to volunteer service, and the economic value of this service was almost $173 billion (Corporation for National and Community Service 2011). What is more, no less than 26 percent of college students volunteered in 2010, and over 3 million of them dedicated over 300 million hours of service to communities across the country, primarily in activities involving youth mentoring, fundraising, and teaching and tutoring (Corporation for National and Community Service 2011). This service work is being done by many ordinary people who are picking up the slack for a city, a state, a nation unwilling or unable to attend to many critical matters that directly affect thousands, even millions, of people (Coles 1993). I contend that we have now entered a new era in this country, one characterized by a culture of service—involving various forms of civic engagement, community service, and volunteerism— that allows people, as citizens, to work together to ease or mitigate the predicaments and uncertainties created by poverty, hunger, racism, sexism, epidemics, calamities, and so on.

Blood group antigen distribution in Lao blood donors

Abstract Blood group antigens can be distributed differently within different nationalities. Therefore, information about the prevalence of blood group antigens in the Lao population will be useful for providing better blood transfusion services in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of blood group antigens in Lao blood donors. Blood samples from 464 Lao national volunteer blood donors were typed for antigens in various blood group systems including ABO, MNS, P1PK, Rh, Kell, Lewis, Duffy, Kidd, and Diego. The results show similar antigen prevalence to that among Northeast Thais for ABO, MNS, P1PK, Rh, Kell, and Duffy systems. In the ABO system, O was the highest at 37.72 percent, followed by 35.56 percent B, 19.83 percent A1, 6.47 percent A1B, and 0.43 percent A2B. The common phenotypes were D+C+E–c– e+ at 60.43 percent, M+N–S–s+ at 46.55 percent, Fy(a+b–) at 80.82 percent, Jk(a+b+) at 39.44 percent, and kk at 99.72 percent. Interestingly, Le(a–b–) was found at 50.43 percent, which was significantly higher than previous reports in Thais and Taiwanese. The P1 antigen was found in only 18.97 percent, which is much lower than in Whites and Blacks. Rare phenotypes were Fy(a–b+) and Jk(a–b–), found at 0.22 percent and 4.31 percent, respectively. In terms of negative antigens the study shows 0.22 percent Fy(a–), 35.34 percent Jk(a–), 29.53 percent Jk(b–), 3.04 percent C−, 2.39 percent e−, and 5.17 percent M−. The high prevalence of C, e, and Fyaand immunogenicity of these antigens may induce alloimmunization in transfusion-dependent patients, creating difficulties providing blood from Lao donors. The information obtained from this study will be useful for improving transfusion therapy in the country, especially for estimation of the availability of compatible blood for patients who have produced antibodies. Immunohematology 2012;28:132–6.

American Heart Association and Nonprofit Advocacy: Past, Present, and Future

Influencing public policy through advocacy is an essential strategy used by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) to achieve its health impact goals and programmatic objectives, which include helping all Americans lead healthier lives and reducing the incidence and consequences of cardiovascular disease and stroke. This advocacy work involves and engages the association's national officers, researchers, volunteer advocates, staff, and the general public and is a core strategy and key work process of the AHA/ASA. The organization's strategic approach to influencing public policy and leveraging its science and evidence base is not well known. This article provides the historical context of AHA advocacy, the organizational and legal structure under which these activities are carried out, the process used to develop the association's public policy positions and goals, the approaches used to achieve these goals, and the methods that have been developed to evaluate progress. This statement also examines the various tools and tactics that advocacy organizations use to influence public policy and specifically how the AHA/ASA conducts policy research, legislative and regulatory lobbying, coalition building and grassroots mobilization, and media advocacy. Finally, the ways that AHA/ASA evaluates the impact of its advocacy efforts are discussed, highlighting specific case studies and a brief summary of the association's 2010 to 2013 public policy agenda. The AHA's efforts to translate the science of cardiovascular disease and stroke into meaningful public policy began in earnest in the early 1980s. The association established a full-time office in Washington, DC, in early 1981 that was initially focused on increasing federal research funding administered by the National Institutes of Health.1 Other early policy priorities included tobacco control and support for programs that increased access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs), new clinical preventive benefits in the Medicare program, and nutrition policy. The commitment and involvement of …

Sibling recurrence and the genetic epidemiology of autism.

Although the symptoms of autism exhibit quantitative distributions in nature, estimates of recurrence risk in families have never previously considered or incorporated quantitative characterization of the autistic phenotype among siblings. The authors report the results of quantitative characterization of 2,920 children from 1,235 families participating in a national volunteer register, with at least one child clinically affected by an autism spectrum disorder and at least one full biological sibling. A traditionally defined autism spectrum disorder in an additional child occurred in 10.9% of the families. An additional 20% of nonautism-affected siblings had a history of language delay, one-half of whom exhibited autistic qualities of speech. Quantitative characterization using the Social Responsiveness Scale supported previously reported aggregation of a wide range of subclinical (quantitative) autistic traits among otherwise unaffected children in multiple-incidence families and a relative absence of quantitative autistic traits among siblings in single-incidence families. Girls whose standardized severity ratings fell above a first percentile severity threshold (relative to the general population distribution) were significantly less likely to have elicited community diagnoses than their male counterparts. These data suggest that, depending on how it is defined, sibling recurrence in autism spectrum disorder may exceed previously published estimates and varies as a function of family type. The results support differences in mechanisms of genetic transmission between simplex and multiplex autism and advance current understanding of the genetic epidemiology of autism spectrum conditions.

An Academic Center's Delivery of Care After the Haitian Earthquake

The Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami and Project Medishare, an affiliated not-for-profit organization, provided a large-scale relief effort in Haiti after the earthquake of 12 January 2010. Their experience demonstrates that academic medical centers in proximity to natural disasters can help deliver effective medical care through a coordinated process involving mobilization of their own resources, establishment of focused management teams at home and on the ground with formal organizational oversight, and partnership with governmental and nongovernmental relief agencies. Proximity to the disaster area allows for prompt arrival of medical personnel and equipment. The recruitment and organized deployment of large numbers of local and national volunteers are indispensable parts of this effort. Multidisciplinary teams on short rotations can form the core of the medical response.

National Survey of Volunteer Pharmacy Preceptors

Objectives: To survey volunteer pharmacy preceptors regarding experiential education and determine whether differences in responses relate to such factors as geographic region, practice setting, and population density. Methods: An online survey was sent to 4396 volunteer experiential preceptors. The survey consisted of 41 questions asking the preceptor to comment on the experiential education environment. Experiential education administrators from 9 schools of pharmacy administered the survey to their volunteer preceptors in all regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West) of the United States, in various pharmacy practice settings, and areas of differing population densities. Results: A total of 1163 (26.5%) preceptors responded. Regionally, preceptors in the West disagreed more than those in the Midwest and the South that they had enough time to spend with students to provide a quality experience and also required compensation less often than their counterparts in the Northeast and South. Concerning practice settings, hospital preceptors accepted students from more schools, had greater increases in requests, turned away more students, and spent less time with the students compared to preceptors in other settings. Population density differences reflected that preceptors at urban sites took and turned away more students than those at rural sites. Preceptors from rural areas spent more time with students and felt they were spending enough time with their students to provide quality experiences when compared to other preceptors. Conclusions: The results of this national volunteer preceptor survey may assist pharmacy school leaders in understanding how location, practice type, and population density affect experiential education, preceptor time-quality issues, and site compensation so they can take necessary actions to improve quality of student practice experiences.

Mexican Solidarity: Findings from a National Study

This article presents the results of a two-year nationwide study presenting the structure and methodology utilized for the National Survey on Solidarity and Volunteer (ENSAV), one of the first national volunteer surveys ever undertaken in Mexico. This study is designed in two distinct segments to be able to engage all formal and informal volunteering in Mexico. The first segment is the analysis of a nationwide survey which presents the main data and findings plus the analysis of these numbers. The second segment reveals some of the main motivations that individuals have for giving and for participating both within and outside of group settings. The national nature of this research project reveals interesting patterns of volunteerism and citizen action by gender, location, and motivation, plus various forms of solidary participation that may be useful guides in the prevailing need to build and strengthen civil society organizations in Mexico and in this region of the world. These results provide an informed basis for decision making in the government public policy arena and reveal distinct and diverse ways for established CSOs to promote and enable citizens for more effective participation in community issues (Butcher, Springer, 2010).

'PEACE CORPS' AMERIKA SYARIKAT: SATU PENGALAMAN DALAM PEMBANGUNAN PENDIDIKAN DI SABAH, 1961-1983

In 1961, the United States government established a national volunteer agency designated as Peace Corps. This agency focuses its operation at the international level, especially in developing countries within Asia, Africa and Latin America. In fact, the Peace Corps was established during the peak of Cold War in East Asia. Hence, this situation raised controversial assumptions regarding the objectives and goals of its establishment from the perspective of foreign policy. However, this agency was always maintained as a sincere intention to help other countries in meeting the needs of skilled manpower for their development programs. This article describes the efforts of the Peace Corps in achieving its objectives of education development in Sabah. It can be said Peace Corps succeeded within the span of 21 years. It had not only reduced the shortage of skilled workers, but also improved the standard of education in Sabah. The Peace Corps program was terminated by the end 1983.

Upgrading the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses' Evidence-Leveling Hierarchy

In August 2008, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses' (AACN's) Evidence-Based Practice Resource Work Group met to review current AACN Practice Alerts and to identify new Practice Alerts to be created. The work group was also tasked with reassessment of the grading system used by AACN that evaluates evidence associated with the Practice Alerts and other AACN resources. This article details the effort of this national volunteer work group, specifically highlighting the development of the new AACN evidence-leveling hierarchy system.

A Dependency in Development Indicator for NGOs and International Organizations

Abstract The article offers an easy-to-use indicator for measuring whether NGOs, international organizations, and government policies and projects meet the criteria for sustained poverty reduction that reverses legacies of colonialism and that promotes self-reliant (mostly "self sufficient") autonomous development following principles that have been established by various international treaties and that are recognized by experts in the field. Use of this indicator reveals that most of the major actors in the field of development are actually providing relief rather than development and are creating dependency by treating symptoms rather than long-term solutions. The indicator points to the specific areas where they need to improve in order to fulfill sustainability criteria including tests of whether aid distorts financial markets and business competition, erodes appropriate government functions, and reverses colonial institutions and ideologies that interfere with sustainable consumption within a resource base. The article also offers a sample test of the indicator using United Nations Volunteers (UNV) as a case study.

CoCoRaHs in Missouri: Four Years Later, the Importance of Observations

On 1 March 2006, Missouri became the 11th state to join the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS). CoCoRaHS is a national volunteer network of individuals who have agreed to measure and report precipitation observations daily. This program was established in 1998 by the Colorado State Climate Office. On 12 March, 2006 CoCoRaHs quickly demonstrated its usefulness during the severe weather events of that day when there were several reports of large hail. Since then, Missouri CoCoRaHS network receives about 250 reports per day. This data can be used to study severe weather events such as the passage of Tropical Depression Gustav and Tropical Storm Ike through Missouri over a 10 day period bookended by 4 and 14 September 2008. Here we will compare the CoCoRaHS volunteer rainfall totals to RADAR derived estimates taken from the National Weather Service (NWS) as well as the Cooperative Site measurements. CoCoRaHS data was even incorporated by the local NWS to summarize these events. CoCoRaHS data is currently used by all six NWS offices and the four River Forecast Centers that serve the state of Missouri as well as by other state and federal agencies and several television stations. The data have been used to dispatch flash flood information to the NWS and to make flood and drought assessments for the Missouri departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Public works departments, insurance companies, contractors and farmers have also used the data for documentation and management decisions. The Missouri CoCoRaHS network has proven to be a very valuable tool for precipitation measurement, and here we demonstrate this by comparing the CoCoRaHS data to different types of precipitation graphics provided by the NWS.

The contribution of international health volunteers to the health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa.

BackgroundIn this paper, we aim to quantify the contribution of international health volunteers to the health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa and to explore the perceptions of health service managers regarding these volunteers.MethodsRapid survey among organizations sending international health volunteers and group discussions with experienced medical officers from sub-Saharan African countries.ResultsWe contacted 13 volunteer organizations having more than 10 full-time equivalent international health volunteers in sub-Saharan Africa and estimated that they employed together 2072 full-time equivalent international health volunteers in 2005. The numbers sent by secular non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is growing, while the number sent by development NGOs, including faith-based organizations, is mostly decreasing. The cost is estimated at between US$36 000 and US$50 000 per expatriate volunteer per year. There are trends towards more employment of international health volunteers from low-income countries and of national medical staff.Country experts express more negative views about international health volunteers than positive ones. They see them as increasingly paradoxical in view of the existence of urban unemployed doctors and nurses in most countries. Creating conditions for employment and training of national staff is strongly favoured as an alternative. Only in exceptional circumstances is sending international health volunteers viewed as a defendable temporary measure.ConclusionWe estimate that not more than 5000 full-time equivalent international health volunteers were working in sub-Saharan Africa in 2005, of which not more than 1500 were doctors. A distinction should be made between (1) secular medical humanitarian NGOs, (2)development NGOs, and (3) volunteer organizations, as Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and United Nations volunteers (UNV). They have different views, undergo different trends and are differently appreciated by government officials.International health volunteers contribute relatively small numbers to the health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa, and it seems unlikely that they will do more in the future. In areas where they play a role, their contribution to service delivery is sometimes very significant.

Surveying the surveyors

All Creatures: Naturalists, Collectors, and Biodiversity, 1850–1950 by Robert E Kohler Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA 380 pp, $35/£23 ISBN 0691125392 You might wonder how the history of biological field surveys could fill a whole book; however, these endeavours—and the biologists behind them—provide fascinating reading. In All Creatures: Naturalists, Collectors, and Biodiversity, 1850–1950 , Robert E. Kohler describes just what ‘creatures’ were involved. A certain type of person—typically middle‐aged men in comparatively well‐paid positions with lots of vacation time—formed a loosely organized, national volunteer group to survey nature. Kohler describes who these surveyors were, where they came from and why this guild of workers emerged in North American society. He also details their knowledge, experiences and the skills they needed to perform successful surveys. Importantly, Kohler distinguishes between explorers—collectors who hunted for curiosities to exhibit—and surveyors—naturalists who collected and numbered species in the pursuit of natural history and science. Kohler focuses on North …

Rethinking Institutional Theories of Political Moderation: The Case of Hindu Nationalism in India, 1996-2004

In March 1998, following India's twelfth general election, a coalition of sixteen parties led by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a majority of seats in Lok Sabha, lower house of parliament, and formed a national government in New Delhi. For many observers, it marked a crucial turning point in modem Indian pol itics. The BJP, as front party of sangh parivar a family of militant Hindu organi zations led by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, National Volunteer Corps), escaped its erstwhile political isolation by convincing a number of smaller secular par ties to join its ranks. In exchange, BJP shelved most contentious aspects of its agenda. Chief among them was campaign, spearheaded by its sister organization, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council), since mid 1980s, to build a temple for Hindu god Ram in town of Ayodhya in northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The Ramjanmabhoomi campaign had led to demolition of Babri mosque, which allegedly stood on birthplace of Ram, on December 6, 1992, unleashing worst communal riots in India since partition in 1947.1 The events in Ayodhya and their aftermath convinced most secular parties to renounce electoral alliances with BJP. The BJP agreed prior to 1998 election, however, to remove Ram temple issue from its official policy platform. It also set aside other controver sial proposals such as adoption of a union civil code, which would nullify spe cial judicial arrangements regarding personal family laws governing various minority groups, and abrogation of Article 370 of constitution, which gave disputed Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir special asymmetric rights in union. As a result of these gestures, many commentators portrayed the politics of social exclusion that BJP has carried forward to new extremes [as] self-limiting in domain of representative democracy.'2 In general terms, two versions of self-limiting thesis underwrote these confident expectations. The first, more general version was that BJP as a party would respect rule of law due to general exigencies of democratic electoral politics. Committing excessive violence towards minority groups would harm its prospects at polls.3 The second, more particular version claimed that it would have to moderate its policies due to the compulsions of coalition politics.4 The inability of any single party to capture a parliamentary majority on its own after 1989 forced larger parties, such as

Moving ahead or falling behind? Volunteer promotion and data collection

Substantial efforts have been expended to promote civic engagement during the 1990s and early 2000s. Yet as significant as volunteerism is economically, socially, and philosophically to the United States, surprisingly little in the way of longitudinal research has been carried out to assess the impact of these promotional activities. Few areas of civic engagement offer reliable trend data. We examine the available data in three areas: individual volunteering, volunteering to stipended government programs, and employee volunteering. We find modest but steady increases in volunteer numbers in all three areas, but point out numerous methodological problems that limit the reliability of present longitudinal data. We conclude by calling for a renewed financial investment in national volunteering surveys with a broader focus than current efforts.

Ophthalmic nurse in line for national volunteer award

Ophthalmic nurse in line for national volunteer award

Genetic Influences in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Twin Study

Aggregation of symptoms of abdominal pain or bowel disturbance has been described in the families of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This may be due to environmental factors, including learned responses to abdominal symptoms or a genetic contribution to the etiology of IBS. To determine the relative contribution of genetic factors to IBS by evaluating IBS symptoms in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. A total of 4,480 unselected twin pairs identified from a national volunteer twin register were asked to complete a validated questionnaire. IBS was defined by the Rome II criteria. A total of 5,032 subjects replied (56% response rate). One thousand eight hundred seventy complete twin pairs were evaluable; 888 MZ pairs (82 male pairs, mean age 51, SD 13 (range 19-81) yr) and 982 DZ pairs (69 male pairs, age 52, SD 13 (20-82) yr). The prevalence of IBS was 17% in MZ and 16% in DZ twins. There was no significant difference in casewise concordance rates between the MZ and DZ twins (28%vs 27%, p=NS). Logistic regression analysis revealed that decreasing age and increasing psychosomatic score were independently associated with IBS. Multifactorial liability threshold modeling suggested that a combination of unique and shared environmental factors provided the best model for IBS. In contrast, somatization was shown to be moderately heritable. Genetic factors are of little or no influence on IBS where the predominant influences appear to be environmental.

Table of Contents

The Volunteer Management ReportVolume 10, Issue 3 p. 1-10 Table of Contents First published: 04 March 2014 https://doi.org/10.1002/vmr.10007Read the full textAbout 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 Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract New on the Job? Don't Be Afraid to Make Changes Ideas Worth Exploring Could Your Program Benefit From a Leadership Group? Timely Reminder Celebrate Your Volunteers During National Volunteer Week Nurture Sponsors for Long-term Success Get to Know Your Board Resign With Dignity Volunteer Reflection Activity Encourage Reflection by Asking Spontaneous Questions Transitioning Volunteers Turn Project-oriented Volunteers Into Full-time Volunteers Volunteers Who Deal With the Public Could You Benefit From a Guest Relations Committee? Assessing Volunteer Satisfaction Find Out What Drives Your Volunteers Volunteers Feel Overloaded? Retire Long-term Volunteers Appeal to Sports Enthusiasts Learn to Just Say ‘No’ Need Networking Products? Forms You Can Use Basic Form Helps Simplify Paperwork Trends in Volunteerism Teens Resolve to Volunteer More in 2005 Subtleties of Volunteer Motivation When Good Volunteers Do Bad Things Building Partnerships Recognize Your Chamber's Value Websites of Interest: Background Checks Safeco Employees Donate Time to Volunteer Projects Institute a ‘Check-in Call’ Crisis Communication Tip Volunteers Help Create Ties to the Community Volunteer Training Procedures Accuracy Key to Training Tour Guides Flexibility Aids Recruitment and Retention Flexibility Instrumental in Getting, Keeping Volunteers Management Challenges Learn to Deal with Negative Volunteers Resources for Nonprofits Website Provides Internet Tools for Nonprofits Raising Community Awareness Humor Workshop Eases Stress and Promotes Cause Increase Participation in Satisfaction Surveys Best Time for a Meeting Take Criticism With Tact Becoming a Docent What Does It Take to Be a Docent or Tour Guide? Job Satisfaction How to Deal With a Micromanager Not Motivated to Exercise? Volunteering Boosts Career Tip for Volunteer Groups Avoid Knee-jerk E-mail Reply Volume10, Issue3March 2005Pages 1-10 RelatedInformation

Personality profiles of normal healthy research volunteers: a potential concern for clinical drug trial investigators?

"Normal healthy research volunteers" (NHRVs) in Phase I clinical trials are utilized to provide precise pharmacokinetic information and subjective self-reports to help determine the initial drug dose for future Phase II, III, and IV trials, and accurate dose levels for future use in a patient population. Medical researchers rely on both objective pharmacokinetic and subjective data from NHRVs. Research shows that personality characteristics can influence these results in Phase I clinical trials. For example, extroverted personality characteristics have influenced the subjective reports and physiological experience of NHRVs. Second, subjective responses to placebos have been significantly greater in extroverted NHRVs than in introverted NHRVs. Third, in looking at Type-A and Type-B personality characteristics, NHRVs with Type-A Characteristics reported significantly more negative side effects to placebos than did people with Type-B characteristics. Fourth, NHRVs with high anxiety had more reports of adverse symptoms after drug administration than NHRVs with low anxiety. Further, it has been found that gastric emptying occurs more rapidly in people with high levels of neuroticism as compared to people with low levels of neuroticism. The authors suggest that personality and psychological characteristics of NHRVs can influence pharmacokinetic results and thus need to be addressed either in the statistical analysis or in the screening process for NHRV studies. Suggestions for further research and analysis are included, along with ideas for a national volunteer subject pool for NHRVs.

Genetic Influences in Self-Reported Symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and Restless Legs: A Twin Study

Sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and restless legs syndrome (RLS), are very common. The relative importance of genetic and non-genetic (environmental) influences on the symptomatology of these conditions has not been well studied. This study uses the twin design to examine this by evaluating OSA and RLS symptoms in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. Six thousand six hundred unselected female twin pairs, identified from a national volunteer twin register, were asked to complete a medical questionnaire. This questionnaire included questions on OSA and RLS symptoms, as well as questions on subject demographics, past medical history, smoking history and menopausal status. Responses were obtained from 4503 individuals (68% response rate). A total of 1937 twin pairs were evaluable: 933 MZ pairs (mean [range] age 51 [20–76] years) and 1004 DZ pairs (age 51 [20–80] years). Concordance rates were higher for MZ than DZ twins for OSA and RLS symptoms. Multifactorial liability threshold modeling suggests that additive genetic effects combined with unique environmental factors provide the best model for OSA and RLS symptoms. Heritability was estimated to be 52% (95% confidence interval 36% to 68%) for disruptive snoring, 48% (37% to 58%) for daytime sleepiness, 54% (44% to 63%) for restless legs, and 60% (51% to 69%) for legs jerking. These estimates dropped only slightly after adjustment for potential confounding influences on the symptoms of snoring and daytime sleepiness. These results suggest a substantial genetic contribution to the symptomatology of OSA and RLS. More research is needed to identify the genes responsible, and may ultimately lead to new therapies.