Twin studies

Samples of twin studies

Hugget 2019, 2021

Two studies (Huggett et al. 2019, Huggett et al. 2021) have been published using the data of Colorado
Longitudinal Twin Sample (birth records) and Colorado Twin Sample (school districts), they were part
of the Colorado Center on Antisocial Drug Dependence (CAAD). Data collection started in 1982, the
first twins were born in 1698. It is an ongoing project, and it seems representative of the general
population (Rhea et al. 2013). The sample of the first study contained 2,224 monozygotic (MZ) and
same/opposite-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins (Huggett et al. 2019). The second study used participants
from the previous study as well as two separate samples. The discovery sample contained 2,216 twins
and the replication sample contained 619 people (Huggett et al. 2021).

Australian Twin Registry (ATR)

- Davis 2019 – two twin studies – Slutske 2009, Lynskey, 2012

- Slutske 2014, 2015
- Richmond-Rakerd, 2014

Five studies have been using the Australian Twin Registry (ATR) dataset. Between 1980 and 1982
twins were registered by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council trough calls
and schools. 4,268 pair of twins were registered. The children were born between 1964 and 1971 and
this cohort is often called Cohort II or younger cohort (Slutske et al. 2009). Over time there have been
two big waves of data collection. The first wave was between 1989 and 1992 (mailed questionnaire)
and the second wave was between 1996 and 2000 (questionnaire and telephone interviews). This
Cohort was used by four studies (Slutske et al. 2009, Slutske et al. 2014a, Slutske et al. 2015; and
Richmond-Rakerd et al. 2014).

One study utilized data from ATR Cohort III (Lynskey, 2012). This sample used date from twins, who
were born between 1972 and 1979 and was collected by telephone interview (computer assisted)
from 2005 to 2009. The sample was 1206 complete twin pairs, contained 565 MZ, 640 DZ and 882
individual twins (321 MZ, 561 DZ) (Davis et al. 2019).

AddHealth

Slutske 2014, 2018

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) have been used by two studies
(Slutske et al. 2014b, Slutske et al. 2018). This data collection represents the general population.
There have been five waves 1994-1995, 1996, 2001-2002, 2008 and 2016-2018
(https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/about/). These studies used the samples of the third wave (Wave III,
in-home interviews) with 15,197 participants (324 MZ and 278 DZ). One of the studies also used data
from National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test twin study (National Merit). The same-sex twin
sample was collected in 1962. About the 596,241 students were 1,507 same-sex twin pairs (509 MZ,
330 DZ). They got questionnaires about behavior and personality (Slutske et al. 2018).

The Quebec Newborn Twin Study (QNTS) was used for two studies. Between 1996 and 1998 all twins
were registered in Provence, Canada. 650 family (223 MZ, 222 DZ) get involved in this study (Vitaro et
al. 2014).

Quebec Newborn Twin Study (QNTS)

Vitaro, 2014, 2019

The Quebec Newborn Twin Study (QNTS) was used for two studies. Between 1996 and 1998 all twins
were registered in Provence, Canada. 650 family (223 MZ, 222 DZ) get involved in this study (Vitaro et
al. 2014).

The Minnesota Twin Family Study

King, 2017

The study of King et al. (2017) utilized data from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS). MTFS is an
ongoing, long-term project based on the population. They collected data from birth records between
1978 and 1982. 1400 children (preadolescent and adolescent) and their parents participated in the
MTFS. Every three years there was a follow-up till they reached the age 29 (Iacono et al. 1999).

Black et al. (2014) collected data from various places. There was overall 133 participants, 19 from
study registries, 19 from gambling treatment programs, 19 from advertisements, 15 from psychiatric
treatment facilities, 15 from Gamblers Anonymous meetings and 7 from word-of-mouth. This study
also had a control group. The Center of Social and Behavioral Research reached the people by dialing
random numbers (Black et al. 2014)
There was 13 published twin studies, all of them were published in the year of 2014 or after that. Six
of the studies used data from the United States, 5 of them used an Australian database and 2 of them
used twin-samples from Canada.

Sample of twin studies

Seven independent database were utilized in the collected twin studies.

Two studies (Huggett et al. 2019, Huggett et al. 2021) have been published using the data of Colorado
Longitudinal Twin Sample (birth records) and Colorado Twin Sample (school districts), they were part
of the Colorado Center on Antisocial Drug Dependence (CAAD). Data collection started in 1982, the
first twins were born in 1698. It is an ongoing project, and it seems representative of the general
population (Rhea et al. 2013). The sample of the first study contained 2,224 monozygotic (MZ) and
same/opposite-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins (Huggett et al. 2019). The second study used participants
from the previous study as well as two separate samples. The discovery sample contained 2,216 twins
and the replication sample contained 619 people (Huggett et al. 2021).

Five studies have been using the Australian Twin Registry (ATR) dataset. Between 1980 and 1982
twins were registered by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council trough calls
and schools. 4,268 pair of twins were registered. The children were born between 1964 and 1971 and
this cohort is often called Cohort II or younger cohort (Slutske et al. 2009). Over time there have been
two big waves of data collection. The first wave was between 1989 and 1992 (mailed questionnaire)
and the second wave was between 1996 and 2000 (questionnaire and telephone interviews). This
Cohort was used by four studies (Slutske et al. 2009, Slutske et al. 2014a, Slutske et al. 2015; and
Richmond-Rakerd et al. 2014).

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) have been used by two studies
(Slutske et al. 2014b, Slutske et al. 2018). This data collection represents the general population.
There have been five waves 1994-1995, 1996, 2001-2002, 2008 and 2016-2018
(https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/about/). These studies used the samples of the third wave (Wave III,
in-home interviews) with 15,197 participants (324 MZ and 278 DZ). One of the studies also used data
from National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (National Merit). The same-sex twin sample was
collected in 1962. About the 596,241 students were 1,507 same-sex twin pairs (509 MZ, 330 DZ).
They got questionnaires about behavior and personality (Slutske et al. 2018).

The Quebec Newborn Twin Study (QNTS) was used for two studies. Between 1996 and 1998 all twins
were registered in Provence, Canada. 650 family (223 MZ, 222 DZ) get involved in this study (Vitaro et
al. 2014, Vitaro et al. 2019).

The study of King et al. (2017) utilized data from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS). MTFS is
an ongoing, long-term project based on the population. They collected data from birth records
between 1978 and 1982. 1400 children (preadolescent and adolescent) and their parents participated
in the MTFS. Every three years there was a follow-up till they reached the age 29 (Iacono et al. 1999).

Black et al. (2014) collected data from various places. There was overall 133 participants, 19 from
study registries, 19 from gambling treatment programs, 19 from advertisements, 15 from psychiatric
treatment facilities, 15 from Gamblers Anonymous meetings and 7 from word-of-mouth. This study
also had a control group. The Center of Social and Behavioral Research reached the people by dialing
random numbers (Black et al. 2014)
Methods Used in Twin Research Studies to Assess Problem and Pathological Gambling

The studies based on CAAD used South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; Lesieur & Blume, 1987) to
screen who got a problem with gambling. The ATR sample has been defined in several ways. In one
study they used AFG, NODS (National Opinion Research Center DSM-IV Screen for Gambling
Problems) and they were adding questions about frequency (Slutske et al. 2014a) NODS was used in
another ATR study by Slutske et al. (2015). They also used SOGS and they added an additional item.
NORC DSM-IV was also used in one study based on the ATR (Davis et al., 2019). Richmond-Raker et al.
(2014) developed interview question to identify pathological gambling.

The pathological gamblers in the Add Health samples were diagnosed with an interview and a survey
(Slutske et al. 2018). In an another study Slutske et al. (2014b) used the Wave III interviews.

SOGS-RA was used in the study based on the MTFS sample (King et al. 2017). The same was used for
the participants in the QNTS (Vitaro et al. 2019; Vitaro et al. 2014).

Black et al. (2014) used multiple methodes to indentify pathological gamblers like the DSM-IV
diagnosis, SOGS and NODS.

A big part of the twin studies finds that non-shared enviroment has an important role in the
developing of pathological gambling. The results show that genetics is also an important factor.
Although it is important to note that not all studies get these results. Sutske et al. (2014b) didn’t find
evidence for genetic influence. In another study were also not found genetic influence, shared and
non-shared environment explained 50-50% of the variance (Slutske et al. 2018). Most of the studies
also highlight the importance of shared environment. In a study the role of genetic and shared
environmental was pointed out. From 18 to 25 years old the impact of genetics increased and the
effect of shared environment decreased (King et al. 2017). Davis et al. (2019) did not found evidence
for the impact of shared environment, there was also no evidence for sex differences. Vitaro et al
(2014) also got the same results, only genetic and unique environmental factors influenced gambling.
The comorbid disorders were also researched in few studies. Skill gambling and problematic alcohol
use was connected through genetic and shared environment. There was also a connection between
Frequent gamblers and ASDP, ADHD (Hugget et al. 2021). Slutske et al. (2014a) also talks about the
influence of ADHD. The twin with the more symptoms started gambling younger. Black et al (2014)
found that the relatives of pathological gamblers had more likely mental disorders (e. g. depression,
bipolar disorder, alcohol or drug problems, social anxiety, ASPD). An another study also found that
the twin who drink alcohol more frequently also gambles more often (Hugget et al. 2019).
Pathological gambling relatives had significantly higher rates than control relatives for major
depression, bipolar disorder, alcohol use disorders, drug use disorders, social anxiety disorder, and
antisocial personality disorder

Based on studies focusing on comorbid disorders, it appears that problem/pathological gambling and
other psychiatric disorders (e.g., major depression [22]) have a partially shared genetic background.
According to the findings of Blanco et al. [19], there is only a slight difference in the

One potential explanation for the discrepant findings of the present and the two prior studies might
be that the measures focused on different stages of gambling

The present study was based on national twin samples, whereas the two previous studies were based
on regional twin samples