Genetic and social influences on starting to smoke: a study of Dutch adolescent twins and their parents

In a study of 1600 Dutch adolescent twin pairs we found that 59% of the inter‐individual variation in smoking behaviour could be attributed to shared environmental influences and 31% to genetic factors. The magnitude of the genetic and environmental effects did not differ between boys and girls. However, environmental effects shared by male twins and environmental effects shared by female twins were imperfectly correlated in twins from opposite‐sex pairs, indicating that different environmental factors influence smoking in adolescent boys and girls. In the parents of these twins, the correlation between husband and wife for‘currently smoking’(r = 0.43) was larger than for‘ever smoked’(r = 0.18). There was no evidence that smoking of parents (at present or in the past) encouraged smoking in their offspring. Resemblance between parents and offspring was significant but rather low and could be accounted for completely by their genetic relatedness. Moreover, the association between‘currently smoking’in the parents and smoking behaviour in their children was not larger than the association between‘ever smoking’in parents and smoking in their children. Copyright © 1994, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserve

The attitudes toward forcible date rape (FDR) scale: Development of a measurement model

Using data from 341 female and 237 male college students that were collected previously (Fischer, G. J., Archives of Sexual Behavior , 15, 457–466, 1986), several true score measurement models were used to describe the variance-covariance structure of a nine-item attitude toward a forcible date rape (FDR) scale. The congeneric true score model fit the data best, but not satisfactorily. By deleting “noncongeneric” items, a six-item, unweighted linear composite variable based on the congeneric true score model was shown to fit the data, and reliabilities and validities based on this model proved satisfactory for females, males, and the total sample. The factor structure of the model for females and for males was not equivalent, but the general patterns were similar. Suggestions for further research included a validation study of the six-item scale on an independent sample and a comparison of 5-and 7-point Likert response scales to see if the lack of model equivalence by gender could be due, in part, to more variability in attitudes toward forcible date rape in men than women.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44789/1/10862_2005_Article_BF02229064.pd

The validity of measures of self-reported well-being

Using a new analytic approach, construct validity estimates are developed for proposed social indicators of self-reported well-being. Two separate investigations are reported: the first involves data on six aspects of well-being each assessed by six methods from 222 adults in one geographic area; the second, a partial replication and extension, involves a more limited set of indicators measured on a sample of 1297 respondents representative of all American adults.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43686/1/11205_2004_Article_BF00286161.pd

Familial influences on the clinical characteristics of major depression: a twin study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66157/1/j.1600-0447.1992.tb03283.x.pd