Data from the German TwinLife Study: Genetic and Social Origins of Educational Predictors, Processes, and Outcomes

The major aim of the German TwinLife study is the investigation of gene-environment interplay driving educational and other inequalities across developmental trajectories from childhood to early adulthood. TwinLife encompasses an 8-year longitudinal, cross-sequential extended twin family design with data from same-sex twins of four age cohorts (5, 11, 17, and 23 years) and their parents, as well as their non-twin siblings, partners, and children, if available, altogether containing N = 4,096 families. As such, TwinLife includes unique and openly accessible data that allows, but is not limited to, genetically informative and environmentally sensitive research on sources of inequalities regarding educational attainment, school achievement, and skill development

Documentation TwinLife Data: Cognitive Abilities. F2F1, F2F2, & F2F4

Klatzka CH, Paulus L. Documentation TwinLife Data: Cognitive Abilities. F2F1, F2F2, & F2F4. TwinLife Technical Report Series. Vol 02 v.2.0.0. Bielefeld: Project TwinLife "Genetic and social causes of life chances" (Universität Bielefeld / Universität Bremen / Universität des Saarlandes); 2024

Documentation TwinLife Data. Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) F2F3

Dang ETT, Klatzka CH. Documentation TwinLife Data. Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) F2F3. TwinLife Technical Report Series. Vol 16 v1.0.0. Bielefeld: Project TwinLife "Genetic and social causes of life chances" (Universität Bielefeld / Universität Bremen / Universität des Saarlandes); 2024

Testing the family stress model for perceived discrimination events as potential family stressors in a representative German sample

Social exclusion is not a circumstance that only one person suffers from, but rather the whole family can be affected. The family stress model (Conger & Elder, 1994) offers a framework to understand how stressors affect family processes and climate. According to the model, stressors (originally limited to economic pressure) lead to a cascade of parental behavior changes that finally lead to offspring adjustment problems. It has been argued that this model is not just applicable to economic stressors but should also be applicable to a variety of potential stressors. So, the current study aims to investigate via structural equation modelling whether the family stress model is applicable to social exclusion events in terms of whether perceived discrimination affects offspring adjustment problems, such as deviance, through parental distress and disrupted parenting. In addition, we will test the temporal sequence of behavioral changes and whether fathers and mothers contribute differently to the development of offspring adjustment problems in reaction to social exclusion events. Data of about 1.000 families is drawn from the German TwinLife panel study. If social exclusion events lead to a similar cascade of behavior changes, this may provide vital hints for a more generalized model of how stressors affect family dynamics and offspring adjustment problems. A suitable model for explaining the effects of social exclusion on families may have important practical implications to plan specific interventions

Documentation TwinLife Data: Height, Weight, and BMI

Klatzka CH, Paulus L, Lenau F, Hahn E. Documentation TwinLife Data: Height, Weight, and BMI. TwinLife Technical Report Series. Vol 06 v.3.0.0. Bielefeld: Project TwinLife "Genetic and social causes of life chances" (Universität Bielefeld / Universität Bremen / Universität des Saarlandes); 2024

Documentation TwinLife Data: Height, Weight, and BMI. F2F2

Klatzka CH, Paulus L, Lenau F, Hahn E. Documentation TwinLife Data: Height, Weight, and BMI. F2F2. TwinLife Technical Report Series. Vol 06 v.2.0.0. Bielefeld: Project TwinLife "Genetic and social causes of life chances" (Universität Bielefeld / Universität des Saarlandes); 2021

Genetic and environmental contributions to the subjective burden of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Background Feelings of loneliness and the burden of social isolation were among the most striking consequences of widespread containment measures, such as “social distancing”, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the potential impact on people’s health, there has been increased interest in understanding the mechanisms and factors that contributed to feelings of loneliness and the burdens of social isolation. However, in this context, genetic predisposition has been largely ignored as an important factor. This is problematic because some of the phenotypic associations observed to date may in fact be genetic. The aim of this study is, therefore, to examine the genetic and environmental contributions to the burden of social isolation at two time points during the pandemic. In addition, we examine whether risk factors identified in previous studies explain genetic or environmental contributions to the burden of social isolation. Methods The present study is based on a genetically sensitive design using data from the TwinLife panel study, which surveyed a large sample of adolescent and young adult twins during the first (N = 798) and the second (N = 2520) lockdown in Germany. Results We find no substantive differences in genetic and environmental contributions to social isolation burden over the course of the pandemic. However, we find the determinants highlighted as important in previous studies can explain only a small proportion of the observed variance in the burden of social isolation and mainly explained genetic contributions. Conclusions While some of the observed associations appear to be genetic, our findings underscore the need for further research, as the causes of individual differences in burden of social isolation remain unclear