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Examining the Dimensions of Intimacy in Twin and Peer Relationships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Andrea K. Foy ,
Phillip A. Vernon  and
Kerry Jang
Andrea K. Foy*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B8, Canada. akfoy@uwo.ca
Phillip A. Vernon
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B8, Canada.
Kerry Jang
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, 2255 Westbrook Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 2A1, Canada.
*
*Address for correspondence: Andrea K. Foy, Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5C2, Canada.

Abstract

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While it is widely assumed that twinship 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 individual 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.

Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 4 , Issue 6 , 01 December 2001 , pp. 443 - 452
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001