Academic performance of opposite-sex and same-sex twins in adolescence: A Danish national cohort study

Hormones and Behavior

Volumn 69, Issue , 2015, Pages 123-131

  Ahrenfeldt, Linda ^a   Petersen, Inge ^a   Johnson, Wendy ^b   Christensen, Kaare ^a,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK   (Denmark)

^b UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

^c ODENSE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Academic performance; Behavior; Mathematics; School engagement; Sex difference; Testosterone; Twins

Indexed keywords

TESTOSTERONE; ANDROGEN;

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT; ADOLESCENT; ADULT; ARTICLE; CHILD; COHORT ANALYSIS; CONTROLLED STUDY; DANISH CITIZEN; FEMALE; GENDER; HUMAN; MALE; OPPOSITE SEX TWINS; PERCEPTION; PRENATAL PERIOD; SAME SEX TWINS; SEX DIFFERENCE; TWINS; ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR; BLOOD; CHILD PSYCHOLOGY; COGNITION; DENMARK; DIZYGOTIC TWINS; EDUCATION; EDUCATIONAL STATUS; EPIDEMIOLOGY; PHYSIOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGY; SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR; ADULT; ANDROGENS; COGNITION; COHORT STUDIES; DENMARK; EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT; EDUCATIONAL STATUS; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; PERCEPTION; PSYCHOLOGY, ADOLESCENT; SEX CHARACTERISTICS; TESTOSTERONE; TWINS; TWINS, DIZYGOTIC; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84922360640     PISSN: 0018506X     EISSN: 10956867     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.01.007     Document Type: Article

References (84)

1. Bacete F.-J.G., Remirez J.R. Family and personal correlates of academic achievement. Psychol. Rep. 2001, 88:533-547.
2. Baker J.H., Lichtenstein P., Kendler K.S. Intrauterine testosterone exposure and risk for disordered eating. Br. J. Psychiatry 2009, 194:375-376.
3. Bartels M., Rietveld M.J., Van Baal G.C., Boomsma D.I. Heritability of educational achievement in 12-year-olds and the overlap with cognitive ability. Twin Res. 2002, 5:544-553.
4. Benetos A., Dalgard C., Labat C., Kark J.D., Verhulst S., Christensen K., Kimura M., Horvath K., Kyvik K.O., Aviv A. Sex difference in leukocyte telomere length is ablated in opposite-sex co-twins. Int. J. Epidemiol. 2014, 43:1799-1805.
5. Berenbaum S.A., Bryk K.L., Beltz A.M. Early androgen effects on spatial and mechanical abilities: evidence from congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Behav. Neurosci. 2012, 126:86-96.
6. Bharadwaj P., De Giorgi G., Hansen D., Neilson C. The Gender Gap In Mathematics: Evidence From Low- And Middle-Income Countries 2012, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass.
7. Blondel B., Kaminski M. Trends in the occurrence, determinants, and consequences of multiple births. Semin. Perinatol. 2002, 26:239-249.
8. Christensen K., Petersen I., Skytthe A., Herskind A.M., McGue M., Bingley P. Comparison of academic performance of twins and singletons in adolescence: follow-up study. BMJ 2006, 333:1095.
9. Christiansen L., Frederiksen H., Schousboe K., Skytthe A., von Wurmb-Schwark N., Christensen K., Kyvik K. Age- and sex-differences in the validity of questionnaire-based zygosity in twins. Twin Res. 2003, 6:275-278.
10. Cohen-Bendahan C.C., van de Beek C., Berenbaum S.A. Prenatal sex hormone effects on child and adult sex-typed behavior: methods and findings. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 2005, 29:353-384.
11. Constantinescu M., Hines M. Relating prenatal testosterone exposure to postnatal behavior in typically developing children: methods and findings. Child Dev. Perspect. 2012, 6:407-413.
12. Culbert K.M., Breedlove S.M., Burt S.A., Klump K.L. Prenatal hormone exposure and risk for eating disorders: a comparison of opposite-sex and same-sex twins. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 2008, 65:329-336.
13. de Zeeuw E.L., van Beijsterveldt C.E., de Geus E.J., Boomsma D.I. Twin specific risk factors in primary school achievements. Twin Res. Hum. Genet. 2012, 15:107-115.
14. Dempsey P.J., Townsend G.C., Richards L.C. Increased tooth crown size in females with twin brothers: evidence for hormonal diffusion between human twins in utero. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 1999, 11:577-586.
15. Education D.M.o. Law Of Public School [In Danish] 1993, Danish Ministry of Education, Copenhagen.
16. Education D.M.o. Tests, Assessment And Teaching: An Overall Evaluation Of Compulsory School Completion Assessment And Test Scores May-June 2004 [In Danish] 2000, Danish Ministry of Education, Copenhagen.
17. Edwards R.D., Roff J. Negative effects of paternal age on children's neurocognitive outcomes can be explained by maternal education and number of siblings. PLoS One 2010, 5:e12157.
18. Else-Quest N.M., Hyde J.S., Linn M.C. Cross-national patterns of gender differences in mathematics: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Bull. 2010, 136:103-127.
19. Even M.D., vom Saal F.S. Seminal vesicle and preputial gland response to steroids in adult male mice is influenced by prior intrauterine position. Physiol. Behav. 1992, 51:11-16.
20. Gaist D., Bathum L., Skytthe A., Jensen T.K., McGue M., Vaupel J.W., Christensen K. Strength and anthropometric measures in identical and fraternal twins: no evidence of masculinization of females with male co-twins. Epidemiology 2000, 11:340-343.
21. Glinianaia S.V., Magnus P., Harris J.R., Tambs K. Is there a consequence for fetal growth of having an unlike-sexed cohabitant in utero?. Int. J. Epidemiol. 1998, 27:657-659.
22. Halpern D.F., Benbow C.P., Geary D.C., Gur R.C., Hyde J.S., Gernsbacher M.A. The science of sex differences in science and mathematics. Psychol. Sci. Public Interest 2007, 8:1-51.
23. Haworth C.M., Dale P.S., Plomin R. Sex differences in school science performance from middle childhood to early adolescence. Int. J. Educ. Res. 2010, 49:92-101.
24. Hedges L.V., Nowell A. Sex differences in mental test scores, variability, and numbers of high-scoring individuals. Science 1995, 269:41-45.
25. Heil M., Kavsek M., Rolke B., Beste C., Jansen P. Mental rotation in female fraternal twins: evidence for intra-uterine hormone transfer?. Biol. Psychol. 2011, 86:90-93.
26. Henderson B.A., Berenbaum S.A. Sex-typed play in opposite-sex twins. Dev. Psychobiol. 1997, 31:115-123.
27. Hernandez-Diaz S., Schisterman E.F., Hernan M.A. The birth weight "paradox" uncovered?. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2006, 164:1115-1120.
28. Herskind A.M., Basso O., Olsen J., Skytthe A., Christensen K. Is the natural twinning rate still declining?. Epidemiology 2005, 16:591-592.
29. Hines M. Sex-related variation in human behavior and the brain. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2010, 14:448-456.
30. Hines M. Gender development and the human brain. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 2011, 34:69-88.
31. Hjern A., Ekeus C., Rasmussen F., Lindblad F. Educational achievement and vocational career in twins - a Swedish national cohort study. Acta Paediatr. 2012, 101:591-596.
32. Ho A., Todd R.D., Constantino J.N. Brief report: autistic traits in twins vs. non-twins-a preliminary study. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 2005, 35:129-133.
33. Hyde J.S. The gender similarities hypothesis. Am. Psychol. 2005, 60:581-592.
34. Hyde J.S., Fennema E., Lamon S.J. Gender differences in mathematics performance: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Bull. 1990, 107:139-155.
35. Korsoff P., Bogl L.H., Korhonen P., Kangas A.J., Soininen P., Ala-Korpela M., Rose R.J., Kaaja R., Kaprio J. A comparison of anthropometric, metabolic, and reproductive characteristics of young adult women from opposite-sex and same-sex twin pairs. Front. Endocrinol. 2014, 5:28.
36. Lærerforening D. Undervisning Skolestruktur og lovændringer [in Danish] http://www.dlf.org.
37. Laffey-Ardley S., Thorpe K. Being opposite: is there advantage for social competence and friendships in being an opposite-sex twin?. Twin Res. Hum. Genet. 2006, 9:131-140.
38. Lindberg S.M., Hyde J.S., Petersen J.L., Linn M.C. New trends in gender and mathematics performance: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Bull. 2010, 136:1123-1135.
39. Luke B., Hediger M., Min S.J., Brown M.B., Misiunas R.B., Gonzalez-Quintero V.H., Nugent C., Witter F.R., Newman R.B., Hankins G.D., Grainger D.A., Macones G.A. Gender mix in twins and fetal growth, length of gestation and adult cancer risk. Paediatr. Perinat. Epidemiol. 2005, 19(Suppl. 1):41-47.
40. Lummaa V., Pettay J.E., Russell A.F. Male twins reduce fitness of female co-twins in humans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2007, 104:10915-10920.
41. Lydecker J.A., Pisetsky E.M., Mitchell K.S., Thornton L.M., Kendler K.S., Reichborn-Kjennerud T., Lichtenstein P., Bulik C.M., Mazzeo S.E. Association between co-twin sex and eating disorders in opposite sex twin pairs: evaluations in North American, Norwegian, and Swedish samples. J. Psychosom. Res. 2012, 72:73-77.
42. Mains L., Zimmerman M., Blaine J., Stegmann B., Sparks A., Ansley T., Van Voorhis B. Achievement test performance in children conceived by IVF. Hum. Reprod. 2010, 25:2605-2611.
43. Malaspina D., Reichenberg A., Weiser M., Fennig S., Davidson M., Harlap S., Wolitzky R., Rabinowitz J., Susser E., Knobler H.Y. Paternal age and intelligence: implications for age-related genomic changes in male germ cells. Psychiatr. Genet. 2005, 15:117-125.
44. Matte T.D., Bresnahan M., Begg M.D., Susser E. Influence of variation in birth weight within normalrange and within sibships on IQ at age 7years: cohort study. BMJ 2001, 323:310-314.
45. McFadden D. A masculinizing effect on the auditory systems of human females having male co-twins. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 1993, 90:11900-11904.
46. McFadden D., Loehlin J.C., Pasanen E.G. Additional findings on heritability and prenatal masculinization of cochlear mechanisms: click-evoked otoacoustic emissions. Hear. Res. 1996, 97:102-119.
47. McHale S.M., Updegraff K.A., Helms-Erikson H., Crouter A.C. Sibling influences on gender development in middle childhood and early adolescence: a longitudinal study. Dev. Psychol. 2001, 37:115-125.
48. Medland S.E., Loehlin J.C., Martin N.G. No effects of prenatal hormone transfer on digit ratio in a large sample of same- and opposite-sex dizygotic twins. Personal. Individ. Differ. 2008, 44:1225-1234.
49. Medland S.E., Loehlin J.C., Willemsen G., Hatemi P.K., Keller M.C., Boomsma D.I., Eaves L.J., Martin N.G. Males do not reduce the fitness of their female co-twins in contemporary samples. Twin Res. Hum. Genet. 2008, 11:481-487.
50. Miller E.M. Prenatal sex hormone transfer: a reason to study opposite-sex twins. Personal. Individ. Differ. 1994, 17:511-529.
51. Miller D.I., Halpern D.F. The new science of cognitive sex differences. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2014, 18:37-45.
52. Naglieri J.A., Bornstein B.T. Intelligence and achievement: just how correlated are they?. J. Psychoeduc. Assess. 2003, 21:244-260.
53. Pedersen C.B. The Danish civil registration system. Scand. J. Public Health 2011, 39:22-25.
54. Peper J.S., Brouwer R.M., Van Baal G.C., Schnack H.G., van L.M., Boomsma D.I., Kahn R.S., Hulshoff Pol H.E. Does having a twin brother make for a bigger brain?. Eur. J. Endocrinol. 2009, 160:739-746.
55. Petersen J.K. The Danish Demographic Database: Longitudinal Data For Advanced Demographic Methods, Odense, Denmark 2000.
56. Petersen I., Jensen V.M., McGue M., Bingley P., Christensen K. No evidence of genetic mediation in the association between birthweight and academic performance in 2,413 Danish adolescent twin pairs. Twin Res. Hum. Genet. 2009, 12:564-572.
57. Petersson F., Baadsgaard M., Thygesen L.C. Danish registers on personal labour market affiliation. Scand. J. Public Health 2011, 39:95-98.
58. Phoenix C.H. Organizing action of prenatally administered testosterone propionate on the tissues mediating mating behavior in the female guinea pig. Horm. Behav. 2009, 55:566.
59. Phoenix C.H., Goy R.W., Gerall A.A., Young W.C. Organizing action of prenatally administered testosterone propionate on the tissues mediating mating behavior in the female guinea pig. Endocrinology 1959, 65:369-382.
60. Pulkkinen L., Vaalamo I., Hietala R., Kaprio J., Rose R.J. Peer reports of adaptive behavior in twins and singletons: is twinship a risk or an advantage?. Twin Res. 2003, 6:106-118.
61. Puts D.A., McDaniel M.A., Jordan C.L., Breedlove S.M. Spatial ability and prenatal androgens: meta-analyses of congenital adrenal hyperplasia and digit ratio (2D:4D) studies. Arch. Sex. Behav. 2008, 37:100-111.
62. Raevuori A., Kaprio J., Hoek H.W., Sihvola E., Rissanen A., Keski-Rahkonen A. Anorexia and bulimia nervosa in same-sex and opposite-sex twins: lack of association with twin type in a nationwide study of Finnish twins. Am. J. Psychiatry 2008, 165:1604-1610.
63. Reilly D. Gender, culture, and sex-typed cognitive abilities. PLoS One 2012, 7:e39904.
64. Resnick S.M., Gottesman I.I., McGue M. Sensation seeking in opposite-sex twins: an effect of prenatal hormones?. Behav. Genet. 1993, 23:323-329.
65. Ribeiro D.C., Brook A.H., Hughes T.E., Sampson W.J., Townsend G.C. Intrauterine hormone effects on tooth dimensions. J. Dent. Res. 2013, 92:425-431.
66. Richards M., Hardy R., Kuh D., Wadsworth M.E. Birth weight and cognitive function in the British 1946 birth cohort: longitudinal population based study. BMJ 2001, 322:199-203.
67. Rodgers C., Fagot B., Winebarger A. Gender-typed toy play in dizygotic twin pairs: a test of hormone transfer theory. Sex Roles 1998, 39:173-184.
68. Ryan B.C., Vandenbergh J.G. Intrauterine position effects. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 2002, 26:665-678.
69. Saha S., Barnett A.G., Foldi C., Burne T.H., Eyles D.W., Buka S.L., McGrath J.J. Advanced paternal age is associated with impaired neurocognitive outcomes during infancy and childhood. PLoS Med. 2009, 6:e40.
70. Sirin S.R. Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: a meta-analytic review of research. Rev. Educ. Res. 2005, 75:417-453.
71. Skytthe A., Kyvik K., Holm N.V., Vaupel J.W., Christensen K. The Danish twin registry: 127 birth cohorts of twins. Twin Res. 2002, 5:352-357.
72. Skytthe A., Ohm K.K., Vilstrup H.N., Christensen K. The Danish twin registry. Scand. J. Public Health 2011, 39:75-78.
73. Slutske W.S., Bascom E.N., Meier M.H., Medland S.E., Martin N.G. Sensation seeking in females from opposite- versus same-sex twin pairs: hormone transfer or sibling imitation?. Behav. Genet. 2011, 41:533-542.
74. Sorensen H.T., Sabroe S., Olsen J., Rothman K.J., Gillman M.W., Fischer P. Birth weight and cognitive function in young adult life: historical cohort study. BMJ 1997, 315:401-403.
75. Sorensen K., Juul A., Christensen K., Skytthe A., Scheike T., Kold Jensen T. Birth size and age at menarche: a twin perspective. Hum. Reprod. 2013, 28:2865-2871.
76. Stoet G., Geary D.C. Sex differences in mathematics and reading achievement are inversely related: within- and across-nation assessment of 10years of PISA data. PLoS One 2013, 8:e57988.
77. Strand S., Deary I.J., Smith P. Sex differences in cognitive abilities test scores: a UK national picture. Br. J. Educ. Psychol. 2006, 76:463-480.
78. Tapp A.L., Maybery M.T., Whitehouse A.J.O. Evaluating the twin testosterone transfer hypothesis: a review of the empirical evidence. Horm. Behav. 2011, 60:713-722.
79. Tul N., Lucovnik M., Novak Z., Verdenik I., Blickstein I. No "masculinization" effect of a male on birth weight of its female co-twin. J. Perinat. Med. 2012, 40:255-257.
80. van Anders S.M., Vernon P.A., Wilbur C.J. Finger-length ratios show evidence of prenatal hormone-transfer between opposite-sex twins. Horm. Behav. 2006, 49:315-319.
81. vom Saal F.S. Sexual differentiation in litter-bearing mammals: influence of sex of adjacent fetuses in utero. J. Anim. Sci. 1989, 67:1824-1840.
82. Voracek M., Haubner T. Twin-singleton differences in intelligence: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Rep. 2008, 102:951-962.
83. Vuoksimaa E., Kaprio J., Kremen W.S., Hokkanen L., Viken R.J., Tuulio-Henriksson A., Rose R.J. Having a male co-twin masculinizes mental rotation performance in females. Psychol. Sci. 2010, 21:1069-1071.
84. Wagenaar K., Ceelen M., van Weissenbruch M.M., Knol D.L., Delemarre-van de Waal H.A., Huisman J. School functioning in 8- to 18-year-old children born after in vitro fertilization. Eur. J. Pediatr. 2008, 167:1289-1295.