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2. The Relationship between Empathy and Executive Functions among Young Adolescents

Author

Mairon, Noam, Abramson, Lior, Knafo-Noam, Ariel, Perry, Anat, and Nahum, Mor

Abstract

Empathy and executive functions (EFs) are multimodal constructs that enable individuals to cope with their environment. Both abilities develop throughout childhood and are known to contribute to social behavior and academic performance in young adolescents. Notably, mentalizing and EF activate shared frontotemporal brain areas, which in previous studies of adults led researchers to suggest that at least some aspects of empathy depend on intact EF mechanisms. Despite the substantial development that empathy and EF undergo during adolescence, no study to date has systematically examined the associations between components of empathy and EF in this age group. Here, we explore these associations using data from an online battery of tasks, collected as part of a longitudinal twin study (N = 593; M[subscript age] 11.09 ± 0.2; 53.46% female, Israeli adolescents from Jewish decent). Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we quantified the associations between the main components of empathy (mentalizing and interpersonal concern) and of EF (working memory [WM], inhibition and shifting [IaS]). We found that WM was related to both mentalizing and interpersonal concern, whereas IaS were related to mentalizing but not to interpersonal concern. We also discuss the genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in each factor. Our findings show both similarities and differences from previous findings in adults, suggesting that the ongoing brain maturation processes and environmental age-dependent experiences in adolescence may affect the developing relation between cognitive and emotional development. These results have implications for better understanding and treating clinical populations demonstrating executive or emotional deficits, specifically during adolescence.

Published
2023
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3. The Special Role of Middle Childhood in Self-Control Development: Longitudinal and Genetic Evidence

Author

Pener-Tessler, Roni, Markovitch, Noam, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Abstract

Despite the importance of self-control for well-being and adjustment, its development from early childhood to early adolescence has been relatively understudied. We addressed the development of mother-reported self-control in what is likely the largest and longest longitudinal twin study of the topic to this day (N = 1889 individual children with data from at least one of five waves: ages 3, 5, 6.5, 8-9 and 11 years). We examined rank-order change in self-control from early childhood to early adolescence, genetic and environmental contributions to variance in the trait and differential developmental trajectories. The relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to change and stability was also examined. Results point at middle childhood as a period of potential transition and change. During this period the rank-order stability of self-control increases, heritability rates substantially rise, and a cross-over occurs in two of the self-control trajectories. Nonadditive genetic effects contribute to both stability and change in self-control while the nonshared environment contributes mostly to change, with no effect for the shared environment. Our findings suggest that new genetic factors, that emerge around age 6.5 and whose effect on self-control is carried on along development, may partially account for changes in self-control around late middle childhood, and explain the growing stability in the trait approaching early adolescence. We discuss the implications of the special role of middle childhood for self-control development.

Published
2022
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4. Are There Positive Effects of Having a Sibling with Special Needs? Empathy and Prosociality of Twins of Children with Non-Typical Development

Author

Rum, Yonat, Genzer, Shir, Markovitch, Noam, Jenkins, Jennifer, Perry, Anat, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Abstract

This study examined whether typically developing (TD) twins of non-TD children demonstrate enhanced empathy and prosociality. Of 778 Hebrew-speaking Israeli families who participated in a twin study, 63 were identified to have a non-TD child with a TD twin, and 404 as having both twins TD. TD twins of non-TD children (27% males) were compared to the rest of the cohort of TD children (46% males) on measures of empathy and prosociality. Participants were 11 years old. TD twins of non-TD children scored significantly higher than TD twins of TD children in a measure of cognitive empathy (d = 0.43). No differences were found in emotional empathy and prosociality. The specificity of the positive effect on cognitive empathy is discussed.

Published
2022
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5. Changing genetic architecture of body mass index from infancy to early adulthood: an individual based pooled analysis of 25 twin cohorts

Author

Silventoinen, Karri, Li, Weilong, Jelenkovic, Aline, Sund, Reijo, Yokoyama, Yoshie, Aaltonen, Sari, Piirtola, Maarit, Sugawara, Masumi, Tanaka, Mami, Matsumoto, Satoko, Baker, Laura A., Tuvblad, Catherine, Tynelius, Per, Rasmussen, Finn, Craig, Jeffrey M., Saffery, Richard, Willemsen, Gonneke, Bartels, Meike, van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E. M., Martin, Nicholas G., Medland, Sarah E., Montgomery, Grant W., Lichtenstein, Paul, Krueger, Robert F., McGue, Matt, Pahlen, Shandell, Christensen, Kaare, Skytthe, Axel, Kyvik, Kirsten O., Saudino, Kimberly J., Dubois, Lise, Boivin, Michel, Brendgen, Mara, Dionne, Ginette, Vitaro, Frank, Ullemar, Vilhelmina, Almqvist, Catarina, Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Corley, Robin P., Huibregtse, Brooke M., Knafo-Noam, Ariel, Mankuta, David, Abramson, Lior, Haworth, Claire M. A., Plomin, Robert, Bjerregaard-Andersen, Morten, Beck-Nielsen, Henning, Sodemann, Morten, Duncan, Glen E., Buchwald, Dedra, Burt, S. Alexandra, Klump, Kelly L., Llewellyn, Clare H., Fisher, Abigail, Boomsma, Dorret I., Sørensen, Thorkild I. A., and Kaprio, Jaakko

Published
2022
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6. "You and me": Parental perceptions on asymmetry in twins' development and their dominance relationship dynamics.

Author

Segal, Hila, Rum, Yonat, Barkan, Adi, and Knafo‐Noam, Ariel

Subjects
PARENTS of multiple births, TWINS, SOCIAL dominance, SOCIAL perception, CHILD development, WELL-being, CHILD psychology
Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the role of nontypical development in the relative dominance in twins' relationships throughout childhood. Background: Dominance dynamics, affecting siblings' well‐being, are different in twins than in singletons for whom age and development often dictate sibling hierarchy. These dynamics in twins, who share similar ages and developmental contexts, remain underexplored and demand further understanding. Method: A longitudinal study surveyed 1,547 mothers and 536 fathers of 322 monozygotic (sharing nearly 100% genes) and 1,199 dizygotic (sharing 50% genetic variance) twin pairs, aged 3 to 8–9. Both parents reported on the twins' relationships. Mothers reported whether either twin had a developmental condition. Results: No dominance difference was found in similar developmental conditions dyads, whether both twins had typical or nontypical development. However, in dyads where twins differed in the developmental condition, nontypically developing twins were less dominant than their typically developing cotwins. This dominance imbalance persisted throughout childhood, even if initial developmental issues were resolved. Conclusion: From parents' perspectives, nontypical development does not, in itself, prevent children from demonstrating dominance behaviors in twinship, but it is more likely that the asymmetry in developmental conditions is associated with the relationship between the twins. Implications and Recommendations: According to parents' perceptions, twins with nontypical development might experience imbalances in their relationship throughout childhood when their co‐twin is a typically developing child. However, demonstrating dominance might be possible for them in other contexts. Understanding these dominance dynamics is vital for caregivers, informing tailored parenting strategies and interventions to support the well‐being of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2025
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8. A Longitudinal Genetically Informed Analysis of Parental Negativity and Children's Negative Emotionality in Middle Childhood

Author

Vertsberger, Dana, Saudino, Kimberly J., Avinun, Reut, Abramson, Lior, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Abstract

Children's negative emotionality (NE) is frequently associated with parental negativity, but causal understanding of this relationship is limited. In addition, little is known about how genetic and environmental factors affect this relationship during middle childhood. We addressed these gaps by applying a quantitative genetic analysis to cross-lagged associations between mothers' and fathers' parental negativity and children's NE during middle childhood. The sample comprised of 456 families when the children were 6.5 years old, and 401 families when the children were 8/9 years old. Mothers' and fathers' negativity and children's NE were assessed using questionnaires. Results showed that variation in parental negativity was mainly accounted for by the environment shared by children, with some indication of an evocative effect of the children's genes on mothers, but not fathers. Children's NE was accounted for by both genetic and shared environmental influences. Parental negativity and children's NE had moderate continuity over the course of two years. Mothers' (but not fathers') negativity when the children were 6.5 years old predicted change in children's NE (rated by the same or the other parent) toward age 8/9 years, but not the other way around. Shared environmental influences were the main contributor to the association between earlier mothers' negativity and later children's NE. Thus, although children's NE was partially heritable, and parenting too was partially accounted for by children's genes, the association between parental negativity and children's NE, at this age, reflects environmental effects and is compatible with mothers' influence on children.

Published
2019
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11. Mothers' and Fathers' Parenting and Longitudinal Associations with Children's Observed Distress to Limitations: From Pregnancy to Toddlerhood

Author

Vertsberger, Dana and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Abstract

Unraveling factors that influence parenting is of great importance, since parents play an important role in their children's development. In this study we focused on parental prenatal expectations, parents' gender and child's distress to limitations as possible influences on parental behavior and observed the longitudinal associations between mothers' and fathers' parenting and their children's distress to limitations. The first wave of the study took place during early pregnancy, while the second and third waves took place when the children were 9 and 18 months old, respectively. Children's distress to limitations was assessed using observations and parental behavior was assessed using questionnaires. All parental variables showed moderate continuity from pregnancy until the child was 18 months, while children's distress did not. Children's distress when they were 9 months predicted an increase in both parents' negativity at 18 months, while fathers' control at 9 months predicted a decrease in children's distress from 9 to 18 months. The results shed light on the intricate parent--child relationship and emphasize children's role in the parenting they receive, as well as differences between mothers and fathers and their associations with children's distress to limitations.

Published
2019
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14. Identity Exploration and Commitment in Early Adolescence: Genetic and Environmental Contributions

Author

Markovitch, Noam, Luyckx, Koen, Klimstra, Theo, Abramson, Lior, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Abstract

Identity formation is a key developmental task in adolescence. Although many adolescents in modern societies face issues of identity, there are substantial individual differences in identity exploration and commitment. Little is known about the origins of these individual differences. The current study investigated the genetic and environmental contributions to identity formation. In total, 571 11-year-old twins (85 monozygotic complete pairs and 176 dizygotic complete pairs) reported on their identity formation, using the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS; Luyckx, Schwartz, Berzonsky, et al., 2008), as part of the Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins (LIST; Avinun & Knafo, 2013). Multidimensional scaling analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported the presence of all 5 dimensions at this young age: commitment making, exploration in-breadth, ruminative exploration, identification with commitment, and exploration in-depth. However, a model where exploration in-depth was divided into two subscales had a better fit to the data. Monozygotic twins were more similar to each other than dizygotic twins on all dimensions, except for one of the exploration in-depth subscales, supporting the idea that individual differences in various dimensions of identity formation are at least partially influenced by genetics (18-45%). For these dimensions, the rest of the variance was explained by nonshared environment effects (55-82%). Only one of the exploration in-depth subscales, that is, the tendency to explore commitments through discussion with others, showed evidence for the influence of the environment shared by twins (21%) but no genetic effect. Implications of the findings regarding the role of genetics and environment to identity formation are discussed.

Published
2017
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16. Genetic and environmental influences on human height from infancy through adulthood at different levels of parental education

Author

Jelenkovic, Aline, Sund, Reijo, Yokoyama, Yoshie, Latvala, Antti, Sugawara, Masumi, Tanaka, Mami, Matsumoto, Satoko, Freitas, Duarte L., Maia, José Antonio, Knafo-Noam, Ariel, Mankuta, David, Abramson, Lior, Ji, Fuling, Ning, Feng, Pang, Zengchang, Rebato, Esther, Saudino, Kimberly J., Cutler, Tessa L., Hopper, John L., Ullemar, Vilhelmina, Almqvist, Catarina, Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Cozen, Wendy, Hwang, Amie E., Mack, Thomas M., Nelson, Tracy L., Whitfield, Keith E., Sung, Joohon, Kim, Jina, Lee, Jooyeon, Lee, Sooji, Llewellyn, Clare H., Fisher, Abigail, Medda, Emanuela, Nisticò, Lorenza, Toccaceli, Virgilia, Baker, Laura A., Tuvblad, Catherine, Corley, Robin P., Huibregtse, Brooke M., Derom, Catherine A., Vlietinck, Robert F., Loos, Ruth J. F., Burt, S. Alexandra, Klump, Kelly L., Silberg, Judy L., Maes, Hermine H., Krueger, Robert F., McGue, Matt, Pahlen, Shandell, Gatz, Margaret, Butler, David A., Harris, Jennifer R., Brandt, Ingunn, Nilsen, Thomas S., Harden, K. Paige, Tucker-Drob, Elliot M., Franz, Carol E., Kremen, William S., Lyons, Michael J., Lichtenstein, Paul, Bartels, Meike, Beijsterveldt, Catharina E. M. van, Willemsen, Gonneke, Öncel, Sevgi Y., Aliev, Fazil, Jeong, Hoe-Uk, Hur, Yoon-Mi, Turkheimer, Eric, Boomsma, Dorret I., Sørensen, Thorkild I. A., Kaprio, Jaakko, and Silventoinen, Karri

Published
2020
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17. Two Peas in a Pod? Development of Twin Relationships in Light of Twins' Temperament Differences.

Author

Segal, Hila, Gutermann, Shifra, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Subjects
MONOZYGOTIC twins, DIZYGOTIC twins, TWINS, TEMPERAMENT, RELATIONSHIP quality, PATERNAL age effect
Abstract

This study examines the hypothesis that temperamental (dis)similarity is associated with twin relationship quality. In a longitudinal study that followed 322 monozygotic twins (who share close to 100% of their genes) and 1199 dizygotic twins (who on average, share 50% of their segregating genes) throughout childhood, mothers (N = 1547) and fathers (N = 536) reported on their twins' relationships on at least one of four measurement points when the twins were between 3 and 8–9 years of age. Mothers also reported on the twins' temperament. Negative associations were found between reports by both parents on the twins' closeness and their temperament difference throughout childhood, while positive associations were found between twins' conflict and their temperament difference in late childhood. Latent growth modeling indicated that the association between temperament differences and the twins' mother-reported closeness was evident beyond the effect of zygosity. A different pattern was found for twin conflict: the more the twins differed in their temperament (specifically negative emotionality) with age, the more the conflict between them increased. Our findings support the hypothesis that personality similarities can contribute to positive relationships from early childhood, and vice versa, beyond the effect of genetic similarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2024
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18. The Motivational Aspect of Children’s Delayed Gratification: Values and Decision Making in Middle Childhood

Author

Louise Twito, Salomon Israel, Itamar Simonson, and Ariel Knafo-Noam

Subjects
values, delay of gratification, children, behavior, motivation, Psychology, BF1-990
Abstract

Delayed gratification is the ability to postpone an immediate gain in favor of greater and later reward. Although delayed gratification has been studied extensively, little is known about the motivation behind children’s decisions. Since values are cognitive representations of individuals’ motivations, which serve to guide behavior, we studied the relationship between children’s values and delayed gratification. Two main distinct motivations overlapping with values may underlie this decision: conservation - the desire to reduce uncertainty and preserve the status quo, and self-enhancement – the desire to maximize resources and profit for the self. Accordingly, we hypothesized that conservation values would relate to children’s preference to hold on to what is given as soon as possible, and that self-enhancement values would relate to children’s preference for delaying gratification. Seven-year old children (N = 205) ranked their values with the Picture-Based Values Survey (Döring et al., 2010) as part of the Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins (LIST) (Avinun and Knafo, 2013). The children also played a decision-making animation game that included delayed gratification decisions. In support of our hypotheses, greater delayed gratification related negatively to conservation values, specifically to security and tradition, and related positively to self-enhancement values, especially power and achievement. This is one of the first demonstrations that children’s values relate meaningfully to their behaviors.

Published
2019
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19. Shared Environment Effects on Children’s Emotion Recognition

Author

Rotem Schapira, Hillary Anger Elfenbein, Meirav Amichay-Setter, Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, and Ariel Knafo-Noam

Subjects
empathy, emotion recognition, shared environment effect, individual differences, childhood, Psychiatry, RC435-571
Abstract

Empathy is relevant to many psychiatric conditions. Empathy involves the natural ability to perceive and be sensitive to the emotional states of others. Thus, emotion recognition (ER) abilities are key to understanding empathy. Despite the importance of ER to normal and abnormal social interactions, little is known about how it develops throughout childhood. We examined genetic and environmental influences on children’s ER via facial and vocal cues in 344 7-year-old twin children [59 monozygotic (MZ) and 113 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) pairs], who were part of the Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins. ER was assessed with the child version of the Diagnostic Assessment of Nonverbal Accuracy. For both facial and vocal cues of emotion, twin correlations were not higher for MZ twins than for DZ twins, suggesting no heritability for ER in this population. In contrast, correlations were positive for both types of twins, indicating a shared environmental effect. This was supported by a bivariate genetic analysis. This pattern was robust to controlling for twins being of the same sex and age. Effects remained after controlling for background variables such as family income and number of additional siblings. The analysis found a shared environmental correlation between facial and vocal ER (rc = .63), indicating that the shared environmental factors contributed to the overlap between vocal and facial ER. The study highlights the importance of the shared environment to children’s ER.

Published
2019
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20. Genetic and environmental effects on body mass index from infancy to the onset of adulthood: an individual-based pooled analysis of 45 twin cohorts participating in the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) study1–3

Author

Silventoinen, Karri, Jelenkovic, Aline, Sund, Reijo, Hur, Yoon-Mi, Yokoyama, Yoshie, Honda, Chika, Hjelmborg, Jacob vB, Möller, Sören, Ooki, Syuichi, Aaltonen, Sari, Ji, Fuling, Ning, Feng, Pang, Zengchang, Rebato, Esther, Busjahn, Andreas, Kandler, Christian, Saudino, Kimberly J, Jang, Kerry L, Cozen, Wendy, Hwang, Amie E, Mack, Thomas M, Gao, Wenjing, Yu, Canqing, Li, Liming, Corley, Robin P, Huibregtse, Brooke M, Christensen, Kaare, Skytthe, Axel, Kyvik, Kirsten O, Derom, Catherine A, Vlietinck, Robert F, Loos, Ruth JF, Heikkilä, Kauko, Wardle, Jane, Llewellyn, Clare H, Fisher, Abigail, McAdams, Tom A, Eley, Thalia C, Gregory, Alice M, He, Mingguang, Ding, Xiaohu, Bjerregaard-Andersen, Morten, Beck-Nielsen, Henning, Sodemann, Morten, Tarnoki, Adam D, Tarnoki, David L, Stazi, Maria A, Fagnani, Corrado, D’Ippolito, Cristina, Knafo-Noam, Ariel, Mankuta, David, Abramson, Lior, Burt, S Alexandra, Klump, Kelly L, Silberg, Judy L, Eaves, Lindon J, Maes, Hermine H, Krueger, Robert F, McGue, Matt, Pahlen, Shandell, Gatz, Margaret, Butler, David A, Bartels, Meike, van Beijsterveldt, Toos CEM, Craig, Jeffrey M, Saffery, Richard, Freitas, Duarte L, Maia, José Antonio, Dubois, Lise, Boivin, Michel, Brendgen, Mara, Dionne, Ginette, Vitaro, Frank, Martin, Nicholas G, Medland, Sarah E, Montgomery, Grant W, Chong, Youngsook, Swan, Gary E, Krasnow, Ruth, Magnusson, Patrik KE, Pedersen, Nancy L, Tynelius, Per, Lichtenstein, Paul, Haworth, Claire MA, Plomin, Robert, Bayasgalan, Gombojav, Narandalai, Danshiitsoodol, Harden, K Paige, Tucker-Drob, Elliot M, Öncel, Sevgi Y, Aliev, Fazil, Spector, Timothy, Mangino, Massimo, Lachance, Genevieve, Baker, Laura A, Tuvblad, Catherine, Duncan, Glen E, Buchwald, Dedra, Willemsen, Gonneke, Rasmussen, Finn, Goldberg, Jack H, Sørensen, Thorkild IA, Boomsma, Dorret I, and Kaprio, Jaakko

Published
2016
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22. Value-Differentiation and Self-Esteem among Majority and Immigrant Youth

Author

Daniel, Ella, Boehnke, Klaus, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Abstract

As they inhabit complex social worlds, adolescents often learn competing values, resulting in value-differentiation, within-individual variability in value importance across contexts. But what are the implications of value-differentiation across age groups and cultures? A study of 4007 adolescents aged 11 to 18 (M = 14.41, SD = 2.16), of three Israeli groups (majority, former Soviet Union immigrants, Arabs) discovered negative relations between value-differentiation and self-esteem, suggesting that confusion may result from value incoherence. The relations were stronger among younger adolescents than older ones and were especially strong among younger first-generation immigrant adolescents, pointing to the need to address the value-differentiation of immigrant adolescents.

Published
2016
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23. The Motivational Foundations of Prosocial Behavior from a Developmental Perspective--Evolutionary Roots and Key Psychological Mechanisms: Introduction to the Special Section

Author

Davidov, Maayan, Vaish, Amrisha, Knafo-Noam, Ariel, and Hastings, Paul D.

Abstract

Prosocial behavior is versatile, multifaceted, and complex. This special section seeks to advance coherent, integrative understanding of prosocial development by addressing this topic through the prism of motivations. This conceptual Introduction presents key ideas that provide a framework for thinking about motivation for prosocial behavior and its development. It outlines the evolutionary roots of prosocial behavior, underscoring the interdependent roles of nature and nurture. This is followed by a discussion of several key psychological mechanisms reflecting different motivations for prosocial action (empathy for a distressed other, concern about another's goal, desire to act in accordance with internalized prosocial norms, and guilt). We discuss the critical components of each motivation and highlight pertinent contributions of the special section articles.

Published
2016
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25. The Development of Values in Middle Childhood: Five Maturation Criteria.

Author

Knafo-Noam, Ariel, Daniel, Ella, and Benish-Weisman, Maya

Subjects
*VALUES (Ethics), *VERSTEHEN
Abstract

Values, abstract motivational goals—guides for the right and wrong, the desirable and undesirable—relate to many important attitudes and behaviors. Although meaningful understanding of values exists already at age 5, most developmental value research has focused on adolescence. Not enough is known about what happens to children's values during middle childhood, the period between these two life stages. We propose five criteria for value maturation, reflecting key cognitive and social advances in this period: (a) that children's value coherence increasingly reflects the motivational associations among values and that, with age, values become increasingly (b) abstract (c) consistent, (d) stable, and (e) related to behavior. Values undergo profound developmental changes during middle childhood indicating that, the importance of adolescence notwithstanding, middle childhood is crucial for value maturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2024
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30. 'Side by side': Development of twin relationship dimensions from early to middle childhood and the role of zygosity and parenting

Author

Hila Segal and Ariel Knafo-Noam

Subjects
Sociology and Political Science, Social Psychology, Communication, 05 social sciences, Developmental and Educational Psychology, 050109 social psychology, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Psychology, Middle childhood, 050105 experimental psychology, Zygosity, Developmental psychology, Dyad
Abstract

Twin relationships have a significant effect on the twins’ life and their families. In the first comprehensive study of this topic, our purpose was to examine the developmental courses of four dyadic dimensions of twins’ relationships: closeness, dependence, conflict and rivalry, and the impact of zygosity and parenting on their relationships. Parents reported on their twins’ relationships ( N = 1547 mothers and 536 fathers with data from at least one of four measurement points from 3 to 8–9 years of age). The sample included 322 monozygotic twin dyads (sharing virtually 100% of their genes), and 1194 dizygotic twin dyads (sharing 50% of their genetic variance, on average). Our findings indicated that closeness and dependence decreased while rivalry increased through childhood. Dependence and rivalry also presented quadratic change. The twins’ conflict increased only for dizygotic twins. As expected, we found that the twins’ closeness and dependence were highly associated, as did the associations between conflict and rivalry. The mostly nonsignificant associations of closeness with conflict and rivalry reinforced the notion that they are not bi-polar opposites. However, dependence was positively related to the twins’ conflict and rivalry. A zygosity effect was also evident as monozygotic twins had higher levels of closeness and dependence than dizygotic twins through childhood, but there was no significant difference in the levels of their conflict and rivalry. In congruence with family system theories, parental positivity predicted the twins’ closeness and dependence, and parental negativity predicted the twins’ dependence, conflict and rivalry. The results were discussed in light of an evolutionary perspective and the twins’ developmental challenges through childhood.

Published
2021
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31. The empathic personality profile: Using personality characteristics to reveal genetic, environmental, and developmental patterns of adolescents' empathy.

Author

Abramson, Lior, Eldar, Eran, Markovitch, Noam, and Knafo‐Noam, Ariel

Subjects
EMPATHY, PERSONALITY development, TEENAGERS, PERSONALITY, EMOTIONS, STATISTICAL learning
Abstract

Objective: How do genetic and environmental processes affect empathy during early adolescence? This study illuminated this question by examining the aetiology of empathy with the aetiology of other personality characteristics. Method: Israeli twin adolescents rated their empathy and personality at ages 11 (N = 1176) and 13 (N = 821) (733 families, 51.4% females). Parents rated adolescents' emotional empathy. Adolescents performed an emotion recognition task, indicating cognitive empathy. Results: Using a cross‐validated statistical learning algorithm, this study found emotional and cognitive "empathic personality profiles," which describe and predict self‐reported empathy from nuanced Big‐Five personality characteristics, or "nuances" (i.e., individual items). These profiles predicted empathy moderately (R2 = 0.17–0.24) and were stable and robust, within each age and between ages. They also predicted empathy in a new sample of older nontwin adolescents (N = 96) and were validated against non‐self‐report empathy measures. Both emotional and cognitive empathy were predicted by nuances representing positive attitudes toward others, trust, forgiveness, and openness to experiences. Emotional empathy was also predicted by nuances representing anxiousness and negative reactivity. Twin analyses revealed overlapping genetic and environmental influences on empathy and the empathic personality profiles and overlapping environmental influences on empathy–personality change. Conclusions: This study demonstrates how addressing the complexity of individuals' personalities can inform adolescents' empathy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023
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32. Personal values and sustained attention as predictors of children's helping behavior in middle childhood.

Author

Misgav, Kinneret, Shachnai, Reut, Abramson, Lior, Knafo‐Noam, Ariel, and Daniel, Ella

Subjects
HELPING behavior, COGNITIVE ability, MOTIVATION (Psychology), CHILDHOOD attitudes, ATTENTION, INTERPERSONAL relations
Abstract

Objective: This study tested the effect of personal values (motivation) and sustained attention (cognitive ability) on children's helping behavior. Method: Children (N = 162, age range 8–9 years, mean = 8.81, SD = 0.43) completed value ranking and go/no‐go tasks, and their helping behavior was examined. Results: Children who valued self‐transcendence over self‐enhancement helped more than others. Surprisingly, children's lack of sustained attention was associated with more helping among those who valued self‐transcendence over self‐enhancement or openness‐to‐change over conservation values. Valuing both self‐transcendence and openness‐to‐change was also associated with more helping. Conclusions: Children are more likely to help others if they value self‐transcendence and openness to change. Notably, children's tendency to act upon these values may be facilitated (rather than obstructed by) low attention skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023
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33. Are there positive effects of having a sibling with special needs? Empathy and prosociality of twins of children with non-typical development

Author

Yonat Rum, Shir Genzer, Noam Markovitch, Jennifer Jenkins, Anat Perry, and Ariel Knafo‐Noam

Subjects
Male, Siblings, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Emotions, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Twins, Humans, Female, Empathy, Child, Education
Abstract

This study examined whether typically developing (TD) twins of non-TD children demonstrate enhanced empathy and prosociality. Of 778 Hebrew-speaking Israeli families who participated in a twin study, 63 were identified to have a non-TD child with a TD twin, and 404 as having both twins TD. TD twins of non-TD children (27% males) were compared to the rest of the cohort of TD children (46% males) on measures of empathy and prosociality. Participants were 11 years old. TD twins of non-TD children scored significantly higher than TD twins of TD children in a measure of cognitive empathy (d = .43). No differences were found in emotional empathy and prosociality. The specificity of the positive effect on cognitive empathy is discussed.

Published
2022

34. Synchronous rhythmic interaction enhances children's perceived similarity and closeness towards each other.

Author

Tal-Chen Rabinowitch and Ariel Knafo-Noam

Subjects
Medicine, Science
Abstract

Inter-personal synchronization is important for performing many cooperative tasks. Notably, synchrony has also been shown to have considerable positive social influences, possibly mediated by synchrony-induced changes in social attitude such as an increased sense of similarity and affiliation between interacting individuals. This effect has been demonstrated in adults, but it is unknown whether synchrony might have a similar impact on the social attitudes of children. We thus set to directly examine the influence of synchronous rhythmic interaction on perceived similarity and closeness in pairs of 8-9 year old children. We found that children who had participated in a synchronous interaction regarded their interacting partner as more similar and closer to themselves than children who had not interacted at all or who had taken part in an asynchronous interaction. These findings reveal that synchronous interaction can positively alter social attitudes between interacting children, suggesting a potential mechanism by which synchrony may enhance positive social interaction through attitudinal shift.

Published
2015
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35. Brazilian portuguese version of twin relationship questionnaire (TRQ-BR): Evidence of validity.

Author

Ferreira, Isabella F., Lucci, Tania K., David, Vinicius F., Araújo Short, Paula C., Crispim, Ana C., Reali, Thais, Marty, Elisa S., Rocha, Vanessa, Grinberg, Andréia, Segal, Nancy L., Segal, Hila, Knafo-Noam, Ariel, and Otta, Emma

Subjects
MOTHERS, ATTITUDES of mothers, RESEARCH evaluation, RESEARCH methodology, RESEARCH methodology evaluation, AGE distribution, TWINS, FAMILY conflict, SEX distribution, PSYCHOMETRICS, INTERPERSONAL relations, QUESTIONNAIRES, RESEARCH funding, FACTOR analysis, EVALUATION
Abstract

Our aim was to adapt and validate a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Twin Relationship Questionnaire developed by Fortuna et al. (2010) and validated by H. Segal and KnafoNoam (2019) in Israel. The respondents were 862 Brazilian mothers of twins (N = 1724 twins) with mean age of 35 years (SD = 6.1). The majority of the sample lived in the Southeast (61.8%) or in the South (24.5%) of Brazil. We conducted a Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis with the pair of twins as second level variable, and the fivefactor structure (closeness, dependence, conflict, dominance, and rivalry) proposed by the original validation study of H. Segal and Knafo-Noam (2019) was confirmed. The final model retained 15 items out of 22 proposed in the original version of the questionnaire. Although the TRQ-BR has fewer items, the accuracy compared to the original questionnaire was maintained. Mixed Model Analysis (LMM) of TRQ scores were used to investigate twins’ relationships as a function of zygosity, age groups, and sex in order to provide evidence of convergent validity of the instrument. As expected, mothers perceived monozygotic twins (MZ) as more depedent than dizygotic twins (DZ). Furthermore, male twin pairs were considered more conflictive when compared to female twins. The present study showed that TRQ-BR is an adequate instrument for research purposes in the Brazilian population. It can also be useful for applied areas such as clinical and educational fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023
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36. Longitudinal Links Between Self-Esteem and the Importance of Self-Direction Values During Adolescence.

Author

Daniel, Ella, Weisman, Maya Benish, Knafo-Noam, Ariel, and Bardi, Anat

Subjects
SELF-esteem, ADOLESCENCE, CURIOSITY, LONGITUDINAL method
Abstract

Self-direction values (e.g., independence, curiosity) are among the most important values to people worldwide. However, it is not clear what encourages their development. We propose that self-esteem may be associated with the development of self-direction values because feelings of self-worth provide the confidence needed for independent pursuit. As both independence and self-esteem develop during adolescence, we examined longitudinal associations between self-direction values and self-esteem in adolescents. Study 1 (NT1 = 527, 55.6% girls, M age = 16.24, SD =.71, NT2 = 198) included two annual waves of data collection. Study 2 (Noverall = 486, 55.6% girls, initial M age = 13.76, SD =.51, NT1 = 418, NT2 = 420, NT3 = 426, NT4 = 387) included four annual waves. In the studies, a cross-lagged panel model and a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model showed that adolescents who feel worthy are more likely to experience an increase in the importance of values of independent thoughts and actions relative to other values. Partial support was found for the opposite direction of association. The results were replicated across longitudinal studies of varying duration and across measures. We discuss the results in light of theories of self-esteem, values, and specifically the development of self-direction values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023
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37. Sensitivity, but to which environment? Individual differences in sensitivity to parents and peers show domain-specific patterns and a negative genetic correlation

Author

Noam Markovitch and Ariel Knafo-Noam

Subjects
Parents, Empirical work, Adolescent, Cognitive Neuroscience, 05 social sciences, Stressor, Individuality, Twins, Developmental Science, Genetic correlation, 050105 experimental psychology, Peer Group, Developmental psychology, Adolescent Behavior, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Humans, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Sensitivity (control systems), Psychology, Practical implications, 050104 developmental & child psychology
Abstract

The idea that individuals differ in their sensitivity to the environment's effects is a cornerstone of developmental science. It has been demonstrated repeatedly, for different kinds of stressors, outcomes, and sensitivity markers. However, almost no empirical work was done to examine whether environmental sensitivity is domain-general (i.e., the same individuals are sensitive to different environmental contexts) or domain-specific (i.e., different individuals are sensitive to different environmental contexts), despite its importance to understanding human development, learning, and behavior. To address this question, phenotypic sensitivity to parents and to peers were compared in 1313 11-year-old Israeli adolescent twins. We found that, (1) our phenotypic markers indeed moderate environmental influences, with a discriminant predictive utility, (2) adolescents who are sensitive to their parents are not necessarily sensitive to their peers, and (3) sensitivity to parents and sensitivity to peers have different etiologies and show a negative genetic correlation, indicating that adolescents carrying genetic markers for sensitivity to parents are less likely to carry genetic markers for sensitivity to peers. These findings suggest that environmental sensitivity shows domain-specific patterns, as different individuals can be sensitive to different environments. We discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of domain-specificity of environmental sensitivity.

Published
2021

38. The CODATwins Project: The Current Status and Recent Findings of COllaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins

Author

Xiaohu Ding, Masumi Sugawara, L H Bogl, Karri Silventoinen, Ingunn Brandt, Fazil Aliev, José Maia, Ruth Krasnow, Patrik K. E. Magnusson, Axel Skytthe, Laura A. Baker, Morten Bjerregaard-Andersen, Kimberly J. Saudino, Frank Vitaro, P Tynelius, Lucía Colodro-Conde, Tom A. McAdams, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob, Alice M. Gregory, Robert Vlietinck, Judy L. Silberg, Sooji Lee, Ginette Dionne, Richard Saffery, Rie Tomizawa, Mingguang He, S. A. Burt, Gary E. Swan, Matt McGue, Dongfeng Zhang, Jennifer R. Harris, Ruth J. F. Loos, Liming Li, Clare H. Llewellyn, Nancy L. Pedersen, Lior Abramson, Kaare Christensen, Kirsten Ohm Kyvik, Emanuela Medda, Brooke M. Huibregtse, Mami Tanaka, Gonneke Willemsen, Canqing Yu, Paulo H. Ferreira, Kelly L. Klump, Tracy L. Nelson, David Laszlo Tarnoki, Thomas Sevenius Nilsen, Ariel Knafo-Noam, Satoko Matsumoto, William S. Kremen, Michel Boivin, Lucas Calais-Ferreira, Juan F. Sánchez-Romera, A K Dahl Aslan, Lise Dubois, Mara Brendgen, Carol E. Franz, Thorkild I. A. Sørensen, Zengchang Pang, Norio Sakai, Shandell Pahlen, N. G. Martin, Catherine Tuvblad, Sisira Siribaddana, Sevgi Y. Öncel, Sari Aaltonen, Yoshie Yokoyama, Duarte L. Freitas, Hang A Park, Massimo Mangino, Syuichi Ooki, Paul Lichtenstein, Qihua Tan, H-U Jeong, Claire M. A. Haworth, Catarina Almqvist, Aline Jelenkovic, Meike Bartels, John L. Hopper, Amie E. Hwang, Fujio Inui, Jeffrey M. Craig, Jaakko Kaprio, Thomas M. Mack, Maarit Piirtola, Reijo Sund, Juan R. Ordoñana, Andreas Busjahn, Abigail Fisher, Vilhelmina Ullemar, Robert F. Krueger, Feng Ning, Tessa L. Cutler, Catherine Derom, Jooyeon Lee, Wendy Cozen, Grant W. Montgomery, Gombojav Bayasgalan, K P Harden, David A. Butler, Chika Honda, Thalia C. Eley, Finn Rasmussen, Danshiitsoodol Narandalai, Henning Beck-Nielsen, Matthew Hotopf, Y-M Hur, David Mankuta, Morten Sodemann, Virgilia Toccaceli, Dorret I. Boomsma, Adam Domonkos Tarnoki, Dedra Buchwald, Antti Latvala, Fruhling Rijsdijk, Keith E. Whitfield, Robert Plomin, Joohon Sung, Fuling Ji, Tim D. Spector, Mikio Watanabe, Jacob v. B. Hjelmborg, Genevieve Lachance, Glen E. Duncan, Hermine H. Maes, S. E. Medland, Robin P. Corley, Vinícius Cunha Oliveira, Athula Sumathipala, Lorenza Nisticò, Kerry L. Jang, Wenjing Gao, Christian Kandler, C.E.M. van Beijsterveldt, Margaret Gatz, Esther Rebato, Michael J. Lyons, Kırıkkale Üniversitesi, Université de Montréal. Faculté des arts et des sciences. École de psychoéducation, Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ), Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences, Demography, Population Research Unit (PRU), Center for Population, Health and Society, Sociology, Clinicum, Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Department of Social Research (2010-2017), Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Genetic Epidemiology, Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, APH - Mental Health, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Mood, Anxiety, Psychosis, Stress & Sleep, Biological Psychology, APH - Health Behaviors & Chronic Diseases, APH - Personalized Medicine, and APH - Methodology

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Male, Netherlands Twin Register (NTR), Aging, Databases, Factual, Twins, ADULTHOOD, heritability, BIRTH COHORTS, Body Mass Index, 0302 clinical medicine, OLD-AGE, Twins, Dizygotic, 030212 general & internal medicine, Child, Genetics (clinical), education, International comparisons, 1184 Genetics, developmental biology, physiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Middle Aged, Child, Preschool, INFANCY, Female, Psychology, birth size, Adult, Adolescent, RJ, Birth weight, Article, POOLED ANALYSIS, 03 medical and health sciences, BMI, SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals, ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATION, medicine, Humans, Socioeconomic status, METAANALYSIS, Aged, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Heritability, medicine.disease, Obesity, Zygosity, Body Height, BODY-MASS INDEX, 030104 developmental biology, Socioeconomic Factors, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Gene-Environment Interaction, international comparisons, Body mass index, Demography, height
Abstract

Loos, Ruth J F/0000-0002-8532-5087; Huibregtse, Brooke M./0000-0003-0977-7249; Kandler, Christian/0000-0002-9175-235X; Hjelmborg, Jacob/0000-0001-9630-9149; mangino, massimo/0000-0002-2167-7470; Siribaddana, Sisira/0000-0001-5821-2557; Plomin, Robert/0000-0002-0756-3629; Latvala, Antti/0000-0001-5695-117X; Kaprio, Jaakko/0000-0002-3716-2455; Willemsen, Gonneke/0000-0003-3755-0236; Tan, Qihua/0000-0003-3194-0030; Pahlen, Shandell/0000-0003-0753-4155; Pedersen, Nancy/0000-0001-8057-3543; Haworth, Claire/0000-0002-8608-289X; Nistico, Lorenza/0000-0003-1805-6240; Skytthe, Axel/0000-0002-8629-4913; van Beijsterveldt, Toos/0000-0002-6617-4201; Rebato, Esther/0000-0003-1221-8501; Li, Lintao/0000-0002-0604-9660; Bartels, Meike/0000-0002-9667-7555; Silventoinen, Karri/0000-0003-1759-3079; Cunha Oliveira, Vinicius/0000-0002-8658-3774; Sund, Reijo/0000-0002-6268-8117; Sodemann, Morten/0000-0001-8992-2500; Rasmussen, Finn/0000-0001-7915-7809; Harden, Kathryn/0000-0002-1557-6737; Medda, Emanuela/0000-0003-4837-4549; Kyvik, Kirsten Ohm/0000-0003-2981-0245; Colodro Conde, Lucia/0000-0002-9004-364X WOS: 000517442200060 PubMed: 31364586 The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity. Thus far, 54 twin projects from 24 countries have provided individual-level data. The CODATwins database includes 489,981 twin individuals (228,635 complete twin pairs). Since many twin cohorts have collected longitudinal data, there is a total of 1,049,785 height and weight observations. For many cohorts, we also have information on birth weight and length, own smoking behavior and own or parental education. We found that the heritability estimates of height and BMI systematically changed from infancy to old age. Remarkably, only minor differences in the heritability estimates were found across cultural-geographic regions, measurement time and birth cohort for height and BMI. In addition to genetic epidemiological studies, we looked at associations of height and BMI with education, birth weight and smoking status. Within-family analyses examined differences within same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins in birth size and later development. The CODATwins project demonstrates the feasibility and value of international collaboration to address gene-by-exposure interactions that require large sample sizes and address the effects of different exposures across time, geographical regions and socioeconomic status. Academy of FinlandAcademy of Finland [266592, 100499, 205585, 118555, 141054, 265240, 263278, 264146]; Osaka University's International Joint Research Promotion Program; Centre of Research Excellence Grant from the National Health and Medical Research CouncilNational Health and Medical Research Council of Australia [1079102]; National Institutes of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [R01 HD068435, R01 MH062375, 1R01ESO15150-01, R21 AG039572]; National Medical Research Council Research Fellowship; California Tobacco-Related Disease Research ProgramUniversity of California System [7RT-0134H, 8RT-0107H, 6RT-0354H]; National Institute on AgingUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) [1RO1-AG13662-01A2]; Swedish Research Council through the Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in the Social And Medical Sciences (SIMSAM) [340-2013-5867]; Swedish Heart-Lung FoundationSwedish Heart-Lung Foundation; Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association's Research Foundation; Special Fund for Health Scientific Research in the Public Welfare, China [201502006]; NIDAUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) [DA011015, HD10333]; National Program for Research Infrastructure 2007 from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation; Research Council for Health and Disease; Velux Foundation; US National Institute of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [P01 AG08761]; Fund of Scientific Research, FlandersFWO; ENGAGE - European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology, FP7-HEALTH-F4-2007 [201413]; National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and AlcoholismUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) [AA-12502, AA-00145, AA-09203]; Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease GeneticsAcademy of Finland [213506, 129680]; Cancer Research UKCancer Research UK [C1418/A7974]; W T Grant Foundation; University of London Central Research fund; Medical Research CouncilMedical Research Council UK (MRC) [G81/343, G120/635]; Economic and Social Research CouncilEconomic & Social Research Council (ESRC) [RES-000-22-2206]; Institute of Social Psychiatry [06/07-11]; Leverhulme Research FellowshipLeverhulme Trust [RF/2/RFG/2008/0145]; Goldsmiths, University of London; UK Medical Research CouncilMedical Research Council UK (MRC) [MR/M021475/1, G0901245]; National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London; NIHUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [R01AG053217, RC2 HL103416]; National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China [81125007]; Global Research Network Program of the National Research Foundation [NRF 2011-220-E00006]; European Research Council (ERC)European Research Council (ERC) [240994]; Michigan State University; National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)United States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [R01-MH081813, R01-MH0820-54, R01-MH092377-02, R21-MH070542-01, R03-MH63851-01, 1R01-MH118848-01]; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) [R01-HD066040]; MSU Foundation [11-SPG-2518]; Fundacion Seneca, Regional Agency for Science and Technology, Murcia, Spain [08633/PHCS/08, 15302/PHCS/10, 19479/PI/14]; Ministry of Science and Innovation, SpainSpanish Government [PSI2009-11560, PSI2014-56680-R]; MagW/ZonMW [904-61-090, 985-10-002, 912-10-020, 904-61-193, 480-04-004, 463-06-001, 451-04-034, 400-05-717, Addiction-31160008, Middelgroot-911-09-032, Spinozapremie 56-464-14192]; European Research CouncilEuropean Research Council (ERC) [ERC-230374]; JSPS KAKENHI JP [23593419, 24792601, 26671010, 24590695, 26293128, 16K15385, 16K15978, 16K15989, 16H03261]; Australian National Health and Medical Research CouncilNational Health and Medical Research Council of Australia [437015, 607358]; Bonnie Babes Foundation [BBF20704]; Financial Markets Foundation for Children [032-2007]; Victorian Government; Portuguese agency for research (The Foundation for Science and Technology [FCT]) [POCI/DES/56834/2004]; Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust; Medical Research CouncilMedical Research Council UK (MRC); European UnionEuropean Union (EU); National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)National Institute for Health Research (NIHR); King's College London; Fonds Quebecois de la Recherche sur la Societe et la CultureFQRNT; Fonds de la Recherche en Sante du QuebecFonds de la Recherche en Sante du Quebec; Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada; National Health Research Development Program; Canadian Institutes for Health ResearchCanadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Sainte-Justine Hospital's Research Center; Canada Research Chair ProgramCanada Research Chairs; National Research Foundation of KoreaNational Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-371-2011-1 B00047]; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [2017-00641]; UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research CouncilBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) [31/D19086]; MRCMedical Research Council UK (MRC) [MR/M021475/1]; Krkkale University [2009/43]; TUBITAKTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [114C117]; National Institute of Mental HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [R01 MH58354]; National Institute of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [NIA R01 AG018384, R01 AG018386, R01 AG022381, R01 AG022982]; VA San Diego Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health; Cooperative Studies Program of the Office of Research & Development of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs; Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [15H05105]; Biomedical Research Centre based at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust; Stockholm County Council (ALF-projects)Stockholm County Council; Twins, a nonprofit Association for Scientific Research in Multiple Births (Belgium); [5T32DA017637]; [5T32AG052371] This study was conducted within the CODATwins project (Academy of Finland #266592). K Silventoinen is supported by Osaka University's International Joint Research Promotion Program. This research was facilitated through access to Twins Research Australia, a national resource supported by a Centre of Research Excellence Grant (ID: 1079102), from the National Health and Medical Research Council. The Boston University Twin Project is funded by grants (#R01 HD068435 #R01 MH062375) from the National Institutes of Health to K. Saudino. Paulo Ferreira is funded by a National Medical Research Council Research Fellowship. California Twin Program was supported by The California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (7RT-0134H, 8RT-0107H, 6RT-0354H) and the National Institutes of Health (1R01ESO15150-01).; The Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging (CAATSA) was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (grant 1RO1-AG13662-01A2) to K. E. Whitfield. The CATSS-Study is supported by the Swedish Research Council through the Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in the Social And Medical Sciences (SIMSAM) framework grant no 340-2013-5867, grants provided by the Stockholm County Council (ALF-projects), the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation and the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association's Research Foundation.; Chinese National Twin Registry is funded by Special Fund for Health Scientific Research in the Public Welfare (Project No: 201502006), China. Colorado Twin Registry is funded by NIDA-funded center grant DA011015, & Longitudinal Twin Study HD10333; Author Huibregtse is supported by 5T32DA017637 and 5T32AG052371. Danish Twin Registry is supported by the National Program for Research Infrastructure 2007 from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, The Research Council for Health and Disease, the Velux Foundation and the US National Institute of Health (P01 AG08761). Since its origin, the East Flanders Prospective Survey has been partly supported by grants from the Fund of Scientific Research, Flanders and Twins, a nonprofit Association for Scientific Research in Multiple Births (Belgium). Data collection and analyses in Finnish twin cohorts have been supported by ENGAGE - European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology, FP7-HEALTH-F4-2007, grant agreement number 201413, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grants AA-12502, AA-00145 and AA-09203 to R J Rose, the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (grant numbers: 213506, 129680), and the Academy of Finland (grants 100499, 205585, 118555, 141054, 265240, 263278 and 264146 to J Kaprio). Gemini was supported by a grant from Cancer Research UK (C1418/A7974). Waves 1-3 of Genesis 12-19 were funded by the W T Grant Foundation, the University of London Central Research fund and a Medical Research Council Training Fellowship (G81/343) and Career Development Award (G120/635) to Thalia C. Eley. Wave 4 was supported by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-000-22-2206) and the Institute of Social Psychiatry (06/07-11) to Alice M. Gregory, who was also supported at that time by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (RF/2/RFG/2008/0145). Wave 5 was supported by funding to Alice M. Gregory from Goldsmiths, University of London. T. C. Eley is partly funded by a program grant from the UK Medical Research Council (MR/M021475/1).; This study presents independent research [partly] funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. The Minnesota Twin Registry (MTR) acknowledges support from NIH grant R01AG053217. Guangzhou Twin Eye Study is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant #81125007). Anthropometric measurements of the Hungarian twins were supported by Medexpert Ltd., Budapest, Hungary. Korean Twin-Family Register was supported by the Global Research Network Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF 2011-220-E00006). Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins was funded by the Starting Grant no. 240994 from the European Research Council (ERC) to Ariel Knafo. The Michigan State University Twin Registry has been supported by Michigan State University, as well as grants R01-MH081813, R01-MH0820-54, R01-MH092377-02, R21-MH070542-01, R03-MH63851-01 and 1R01-MH118848-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), R01-HD066040 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and 11-SPG-2518 from the MSU Foundation. The content of this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMH, the NICHD or the National Institutes of Health. The Murcia Twin Registry is supported by Fundacion Seneca, Regional Agency for Science and Technology, Murcia, Spain (08633/PHCS/08, 15302/PHCS/10 & 19479/PI/14) and Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (PSI2009-11560 & PSI2014-56680-R). The NAS-NRC Twin Registry acknowledges financial support from the National Institutes of Health grant number R21 AG039572. Netherlands Twin Register acknowledges the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and MagW/ZonMW grants 904-61-090, 985-10-002, 912-10-020, 904-61-193,480-04-004, 463-06-001, 451-04-034, 400-05-717, Addiction-31160008, Middelgroot-911-09-032, Spinozapremie 56-464-14192; VU University's Institute for Health and Care Research (EMGO+); the European Research Council (ERC-230374), the Avera Institute, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (USA). Osaka University Aged Twin Registry is supported by grants from JSPS KAKENHI JP (23593419, 24792601, 26671010, 24590695, 26293128, 16K15385, 16K15978, 16K15989, 16H03261). PETS was supported by grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (grant numbers 437015 and 607358 to JC, and RS), the Bonnie Babes Foundation (grant number BBF20704 to JMC), the Financial Markets Foundation for Children (grant no. 032-2007 to JMC), and by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program.; Madeira data comes from the following project: Genetic and environmental influences on physical activity, fitness and health: the Madeira family study Project reference: POCI/DES/56834/2004 Founded by the Portuguese agency for research (The Foundation for Science and Technology [FCT]). TwinsUK receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council and European Union.; TwinsUK and M. Mangino are supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)-funded BioResource, Clinical Research Facility and Biomedical Research Centre based at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London. The Quebec Newborn Twin Study acknowledges financial support from the Fonds Quebecois de la Recherche sur la Societe et la Culture, the Fonds de la Recherche en Sante du Quebec, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the National Health Research Development Program, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Sainte-Justine Hospital's Research Center, and the Canada Research Chair Program (Michel Boivin). South Korea Twin Registry is supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-371-2011-1 B00047). We acknowledge The Swedish Twin Registry for access to data. The Swedish Twin Registry is managed by Karolinska Institutet and receives funding through the Swedish Research Council under the grant no. 2017-00641.; The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is supported by a program grant (G0901245) from the UK Medical Research Council and the work on obesity in TEDS is supported in part by a grant from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (31/D19086). Currently TEDS is supported by MRC grant 'MR/M021475/1'. The Texas Twin Project is currently funded by grant R01HD083613 from the National Institutes of Health. S. Y. oncel and F. Aliev are supported by Krkkale University Research Grant: KKU, 2009/43 and TUBITAK grant 114C117. The University of Southern California Twin Study is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH58354). Washington State Twin Registry (formerly the University of Washington Twin Registry) was supported in part by grant NIH RC2 HL103416 (D. Buchwald, PI). Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging was supported by National Institute of Health grants NIA R01 AG018384, R01 AG018386, R01 AG022381 and R01 AG022982, and, in part, with resources of the VA San Diego Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health. The Cooperative Studies Program of the Office of Research & Development of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has provided financial support for the development and maintenance of the Vietnam Era Twin (VET) Registry. The content of this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIA/NIH, or the VA. The West Japan Twins and Higher Order Multiple Births Registry was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (grant number 15H05105) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Published
2019
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39. Sensitivity, but to which environment? Individual differences in sensitivity to parents and peers show domain‐specific patterns and a negative genetic correlation.

Author

Markovitch, Noam and Knafo‐Noam, Ariel

Subjects
*PARENTS, *GENETIC correlations, *INDIVIDUAL differences, *TEENAGERS, *GENETIC markers, *PEERS
Abstract

The idea that individuals differ in their sensitivity to the environment's effects is a cornerstone of developmental science. It has been demonstrated repeatedly, for different kinds of stressors, outcomes, and sensitivity markers. However, almost no empirical work was done to examine whether environmental sensitivity is domain‐general (i.e., the same individuals are sensitive to different environmental contexts) or domain‐specific (i.e., different individuals are sensitive to different environmental contexts), despite its importance to understanding human development, learning, and behavior. To address this question, phenotypic sensitivity to parents and to peers were compared in 1313 11‐year‐old Israeli adolescent twins. We found that, (1) our phenotypic markers indeed moderate environmental influences, with a discriminant predictive utility, (2) adolescents who are sensitive to their parents are not necessarily sensitive to their peers, and (3) sensitivity to parents and sensitivity to peers have different etiologies and show a negative genetic correlation, indicating that adolescents carrying genetic markers for sensitivity to parents are less likely to carry genetic markers for sensitivity to peers. These findings suggest that environmental sensitivity shows domain‐specific patterns, as different individuals can be sensitive to different environments. We discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of domain‐specificity of environmental sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2021
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40. "Side by side": Development of twin relationship dimensions from early to middle childhood and the role of zygosity and parenting.

Author

Segal, Hila and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Subjects
SIBLINGS, CHILD development, PSYCHOLOGY of mothers, TWINS, PARENTING, CONFLICT (Psychology), EARLY intervention (Education), INTERPERSONAL relations, DESCRIPTIVE statistics, PSYCHOLOGY of fathers
Abstract

Twin relationships have a significant effect on the twins' life and their families. In the first comprehensive study of this topic, our purpose was to examine the developmental courses of four dyadic dimensions of twins' relationships: closeness, dependence, conflict and rivalry, and the impact of zygosity and parenting on their relationships. Parents reported on their twins' relationships (N = 1547 mothers and 536 fathers with data from at least one of four measurement points from 3 to 8–9 years of age). The sample included 322 monozygotic twin dyads (sharing virtually 100% of their genes), and 1194 dizygotic twin dyads (sharing 50% of their genetic variance, on average). Our findings indicated that closeness and dependence decreased while rivalry increased through childhood. Dependence and rivalry also presented quadratic change. The twins' conflict increased only for dizygotic twins. As expected, we found that the twins' closeness and dependence were highly associated, as did the associations between conflict and rivalry. The mostly nonsignificant associations of closeness with conflict and rivalry reinforced the notion that they are not bi-polar opposites. However, dependence was positively related to the twins' conflict and rivalry. A zygosity effect was also evident as monozygotic twins had higher levels of closeness and dependence than dizygotic twins through childhood, but there was no significant difference in the levels of their conflict and rivalry. In congruence with family system theories, parental positivity predicted the twins' closeness and dependence, and parental negativity predicted the twins' dependence, conflict and rivalry. The results were discussed in light of an evolutionary perspective and the twins' developmental challenges through childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2021
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41. Introduction to the Special Section Value Development from Middle Childhood to Early Adulthood-New Insights from Longitudinal and Genetically Informed Research

Author

Ariel Knafo-Noam, Anna K. Döring, and Ella Daniel

Subjects
Value (ethics), Sociology and Political Science, Field (Bourdieu), 05 social sciences, Identity (social science), Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, 050109 social psychology, Developmental psychology, Consistency (negotiation), Developmental and Educational Psychology, Openness to experience, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Empirical evidence, Psychology, Social psychology, Identity formation, Social Sciences (miscellaneous), 050104 developmental & child psychology
Abstract

Research into values at an early age has only started recently, although it has expanded quickly and dynamically in the past years. The purpose of this article is twofold: First, it provides an introduction to a special section that aims to help fill the gap in value development research. The special section brings together four new longitudinal and genetically informed studies of value development from the beginning of middle childhood through early adulthood. Second, this article reviews recent research from this special section and beyond, aiming to provide new directions to the field. With new methods for assessing children's values and an increased awareness of the role of values in children's and adolescents' development, the field now seems ripe for an in-depth investigation. Our review of empirical evidence shows that, as is the case with adults, children's values are organized based on compatibilities and conflicts in their underlying motivations. Values show some consistency across situations, as well as stability across time. This longitudinal stability tends to increase with age, although mean changes are also observed. These patterns of change seem to be compatible with Schwartz's (1992) theory of values (e.g., if the importance of openness to change values increases, the importance of conservation values decreases). The contributions of culture, family, peers, significant life events, and individual characteristics to values are discussed, as well as the development of values as guides for behavior.

Published
2016
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43. An Israeli study of family expectations of future child temperament

Author

Ariel Knafo-Noam, Lior Abramson, Jerry C. Prater, Jeffrey R. Gagne, and David Mankuta

Subjects
Family dynamics, Sociology and Political Science, Social Psychology, Anthropology, media_common.quotation_subject, Personality, Temperament, Psychology, Parent ratings, Developmental psychology, media_common
Abstract

Early emerging child temperament forms the basis for adult personality and has a multitude of developmental implications. Studies have shown that some aspects of temperament can be observed prenatally, and prenatal parent ratings predict postnatal child temperament, thereby influencing future family dynamics. Little research has examined prenatal mother–father agreement on predictions of temperament, or patterns of cross-dimension associations before birth. Parental expectations of their future child’s temperament were investigated in a sample of pregnant Israeli women and their partners. Three modified temperament questionnaires were used to investigate mother–father agreement and associations between temperament dimensions. There were few significant mean differences between mothers’ and fathers’ expectations of child temperament. Parent agreement within temperament dimensions, and associations across dimensions were consistent with the postnatal literature. Findings indicate that parent impressions of ...

Published
2015
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44. The CODATwins Project: The Cohort Description of Collaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins to Study Macro-Environmental Variation in Genetic and Environmental Effects on Anthropometric Traits

Author

Dedra Buchwald, Jeffrey M. Craig, Kerry L. Jang, Kimberly J. Saudino, Christian Kandler, Abigail Fisher, Duarte L. Freitas, Athula Sumathipala, Massimo Mangino, Robert F. Krueger, Ariel Knafo-Noam, Aline Jelenkovic, Amie E. Hwang, Keith E. Whitfield, Robert Plomin, Thomas Sevenius Nilsen, Lindon J. Eaves, Morten Bjerregaard-Andersen, David A. Butler, Richard Saffery, Gombojav Bayasgalan, Karri Silventoinen, Mingguang He, Anna K. Dahl Aslan, Kelly L. Klump, Meike Bartels, K. Paige Harden, Feng Ning, Jane Wardle, Billy Heung Wing Chang, Syuichi Ooki, Kauko Heikkilä, Tracy L. Nelson, Lucía Colodro-Conde, Ingunn Brandt, David Laszlo Tarnoki, Sarah E. Medland, Lise Dubois, Glen E. Duncan, Jack H. Goldberg, John L. Hopper, Robin P. Corley, Thomas M. Mack, Patrik K. E. Magnusson, Axel Skytthe, Chika Honda, Catherine Tuvblad, Wendy Cozen, Henning Beck-Nielsen, Ruth J. F. Loos, Youngsook Chong, Paul Lichtenstein, Jaakko Kaprio, Judy L. Silberg, Danshiitsoodol Narandalai, Reijo Sund, Per Tynelius, Matthew Hotopf, Juan R. Ordoñana, Brooke M. Huibregtse, David Mankuta, Lior Abramson, Tessa L. Cutler, Nicholas G. Martin, Dongfeng Zhang, Catherine Derom, Sarah Yang, Changhee Hong, Tim D. Spector, Kirsten Ohm Kyvik, Gonneke Willemsen, Michael J. Lyons, Zengchang Pang, Shandell Pahlen, Mikio Watanabe, William S. Kremen, Sevgi Y. Öncel, Joohon Sung, Robert F. Vlietinck, Jennifer R. Harris, Gary E. Swan, Fazil Aliev, Alice M. Gregory, Carol E. Franz, Thorkild I. A. Sørensen, Toos C. E. M. van Beijsterveldt, Hermine H. Maes, Grant W. Montgomery, Thalia C. Eley, Margaret Gatz, Kazuo Hayakawa, Maria A. Stazi, Finn Rasmussen, Esther Rebato, Morten Sodemann, Fujio Inui, Kaare Christensen, Andreas Busjahn, Sari Aaltonen, Kelly Aujard, Sisira Siribaddana, S. Alexandra Burt, Claire M. A. Haworth, José Maia, Tom A. McAdams, Fuling Ji, Yoon-Mi Hur, Yun Mi Song, Ruth Krasnow, Yoshinori Iwatani, Laura A. Baker, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob, Dorret I. Boomsma, Adam Domonkos Tarnoki, Matt McGue, Nancy L. Pedersen, Corrado Fagnani, Xiaohu Ding, Kayoung Lee, Michel Boivin, Juan F. Sánchez-Romera, Yoshie Yokoyama, Qihua Tan, Cristina D'Ippolito, Clare H. Llewellyn, Genevieve Lachance, Kırıkkale Üniversitesi, Department of Social Research (2010-2017), Sociology, Centre for Social Data Science, CSDS, Department of Public Health, Clinicum, Jaakko Kaprio / Principal Investigator, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Center for Population, Health and Society, Population Research Unit (PRU), Genetic Epidemiology, Biological Psychology, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam - Neurobiology of Mental Health, and EMGO+ - Lifestyle, Overweight and Diabetes

Subjects
Male, Gerontology, ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Netherlands Twin Register (NTR), Twins, SWEDISH TWIN, heritability, Body Mass Index, HUMAN OBESITY, 3123 Gynaecology and paediatrics, Medicine, Gene–environment interaction, Genetics (clinical), ADULT HEIGHT, Anthropometry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, twins, Twin Studies as Topic, 3142 Public health care science, environmental and occupational health, Phenotype, Cohort, Life course approach, Female, REARED APART, International comparisons, Article, Heritability, BMI, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being, Humans, GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION, 8 COUNTRIES, business.industry, Height, HEALTHY TWIN, Body Weight, Twin study, Body Height, BODY-MASS INDEX, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, REGISTRY, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Gene-Environment Interaction, 3111 Biomedicine, international comparisons, business, Body mass index, Demography, height
Abstract

Kaprio, Jaakko/0000-0002-3716-2455; Knafo-Noam, Ariel/0000-0003-0613-1960; de Freitas, Duarte Luis/0000-0001-6642-3370; Haworth, Claire/0000-0002-8608-289X; Siribaddana, Sisira/0000-0001-5821-2557; Kyvik, Kirsten O/0000-0003-2981-0245; Aliev, Fazil/0000-0001-8357-4699; Craig, Jeffrey M/0000-0003-3979-7849; Ordonana, Juan R./0000-0001-7779-6017; Sund, Reijo/0000-0002-6268-8117; Bartels, Meike/0000-0002-9667-7555; Kandler, Christian/0000-0002-9175-235X; Fagnani, Corrado/0000-0001-5771-7772; Huibregtse, Brooke M./0000-0003-0977-7249; Montgomery, Grant W/0000-0002-4140-8139; Colodro-Conde, Lucia/0000-0002-9004-364X; Loos, Ruth J F/0000-0002-8532-5087; Busjahn, Andreas/0000-0001-9650-6919; ONCEL, Sevgi YURT/0000-0002-0990-292X; Christensen, Kaare/0000-0002-5429-5292; Martin, Nicholas/0000-0003-4069-8020; Tan, Qihua/0000-0003-3194-0030; ROMERA, JUAN FRANCISCO SANCHEZ/0000-0002-5405-6216; D'Ippolito, Cristina/0000-0001-7902-9380; Skytthe, Axel E/0000-0002-8629-4913; Tan, Qihua/0000-0003-3194-0030; Heikkila, Kauko/0000-0002-9256-8028; Duncan, Glen/0000-0001-6909-1869; Jelenkovic, Aline/0000-0002-6191-8371; Magnusson, Patrik/0000-0002-7315-7899; mangino, massimo/0000-0002-2167-7470; Medland, Sarah E/0000-0003-1382-380X; Saffery, Richard/0000-0002-9510-4181; Plomin, Robert/0000-0002-0756-3629; Harden, Kathryn/0000-0002-1557-6737; Hotopf, Matthew/0000-0002-3980-4466; McAdams, Tom/0000-0002-6825-3499; Aaltonen, Sari/0000-0002-2873-4263; Kremen, William/0000-0002-8629-5609; Pahlen, Shandell/0000-0003-0753-4155; Llewellyn, Clare/0000-0002-0066-2827; Franz, Carol/0000-0002-8987-1755; Derom, Catherine/0000-0001-5574-796X; Willemsen, Gonneke/0000-0003-3755-0236; Rasmussen, Finn/0000-0001-7915-7809; Rebato, Esther/0000-0003-1221-8501; lee, kayoung/0000-0002-2816-554X; Sodemann, Morten/0000-0001-8992-2500; Gatz, Margaret/0000-0002-1071-9970; Boivin, Michel/0000-0001-8621-9844; Silventoinen, Karri/0000-0003-1759-3079 WOS: 000358874400002 PubMed: 26014041 For over 100 years, the genetics of human anthropometric traits has attracted scientific interest. In particular, height and body mass index (BMI, calculated as kg/m(2)) have been under intensive genetic research. However, it is still largely unknown whether and how heritability estimates vary between human populations. Opportunities to address this question have increased recently because of the establishment of many new twin cohorts and the increasing accumulation of data in established twin cohorts. We started a new research project to analyze systematically (1) the variation of heritability estimates of height, BMI and their trajectories over the life course between birth cohorts, ethnicities and countries, and (2) to study the effects of birth-related factors, education and smoking on these anthropometric traits and whether these effects vary between twin cohorts. We identified 67 twin projects, including both monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, using various sources. We asked for individual level data on height and weight including repeated measurements, birth related traits, background variables, education and smoking. By the end of 2014, 48 projects participated. Together, we have 893,458 height and weight measures (52% females) from 434,723 twin individuals, including 201,192 complete twin pairs (40% monozygotic, 40% same-sex dizygotic and 20% opposite-sex dizygotic) representing 22 countries. This project demonstrates that large-scale international twin studies are feasible and can promote the use of existing data for novel research purposes. National Institute of Mental HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [R01 MH58354]; National Institute on AgingUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) [1RO1-AG13662-01A2]; National Institutes of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [R21 AG039572]; WT Grant Foundation; University of London Central Research fund; Medical Research CouncilMedical Research Council UK (MRC) [G81/343, G120/635]; Economic and Social Research CouncilEconomic & Social Research Council (ESRC) [RES-000-22-2206]; Institute of Social Psychiatry [06/07-11]; Leverhulme Research FellowshipLeverhulme Trust [RF/2/RFG/2008/0145]; Goldsmiths; University of London; National Research Foundation of KoreaNational Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-371-2011-1B00047]; Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation; Research Council for Health and Disease; Velux Foundation; US National Institute of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [P01 AG08761]; Fund of Scientific Research, FlandersFWO; Twins, a non-profit Association for Scientific Research in Multiple Births (Belgium); Global Research Network Program of the National Research Foundation [NRF 2011-220-E00006]; NIDAUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) [DA011015]; Longitudinal Twin Study [HD10333]; National Institute of Health grantsUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [NIA R01 AG018384, R01 AG018386, R01 AG022381, R01 AG022982]; Cooperative Studies Program of the Office of Research AMP; Development of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs; Centre of Research Excellence from the National Health and Medical Research CouncilNational Health and Medical Research Council of Australia [1079102]; Michigan State University from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [R01-MH081813, R01-MH0820-54, R01-MH092377-02, R21-MH070542-01, R03-MH63851-01]; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) [R01-HD066040]; MSU Foundation [11-SPG-2518]; California Tobacco-Related Disease Research ProgramUniversity of California System [7RT-0134H, 8RT-0107H, 6RT-0354H]; The National Institutes of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [1R01ESO15150-01]; National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China [81125007]; Australian National Health and Medical Research CouncilNational Health and Medical Research Council of Australia [437015, 607358]; Bonnie Babes Foundation [BBF20704]; Financial Markets Foundation for Children [032-2007]; Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program; ENGAGE-European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology [201413]; National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and AlcoholismUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) [AA-12502, AA-00145, AA-09203]; Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease GeneticsAcademy of Finland [213506, 129680]; Academy of FinlandAcademy of Finland [100499, 205585, 118555, 141054, 265240, 263278, 264146]; Osaka University's International Joint Research Promotion Program; Kirikkale University Research Grant: KKUKirikkale University; TUBITAKTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [114C117]; European Research Council (ERC)European Research Council (ERC) [240994]; European Union's Seventh Framework Programmes ENGAGE ConsortiumEuropean Union (EU) [HEALTH-F4-2007-201413]; BioSHaRE EU [HEALTH-F4-2010-261433]; Seneca FoundationFundacion Seneca; Regional Agency for Science and Technology, Murcia, Spain [08633/PHCS/08, 15302/PHCS/10]; Ministry of Science and Innovation, SpainSpanish Government [PSI11560-2009]; UK Medical Research CouncilMedical Research Council UK (MRC) [G0901245]; UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research CouncilBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) [31/D19086]; Portuguese agency for research (The Foundation for Science and Technology) [POCI/DES/56834/2004]; National Institutes of Health.United States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [R01 HD068435, R01 MH062375]; Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust; European Community's Seventh Framework ProgrammeEuropean Union (EU); National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) BioResource Clinical Research Facility and Biomedical Research Centre based at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO); MagW/ZonMW [904-61-090, 985-10-002, 912-10-020, 904-61-193, 480-04-004, 463-06-001, 451-04-034, 400-05-717, Addiction-31160008, Middelgroot-911-09-032, Spinozapremie 56-464-14192]; VU University's Institute for Health and Care Research (EMGO+); European Research CouncilEuropean Research Council (ERC) [ERC-230374]; Avera Institute, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (USA); Cancer Research UKCancer Research UK [C1418/A7974]; [5T32DA017637-10]; [NIH RC2 HL103416]; Cancer Research UKCancer Research UK [14133]; Medical Research CouncilMedical Research Council UK (MRC) [G0901245, MC_UU_12013/1]; NNF Center for Basic Metabolic ResearchNovo Nordisk Foundation [Metabolic Genetics]; Novo Nordisk FondenNovo NordiskNovo Nordisk Foundation [NNF10CC1016515] This study was conducted within the CODATwins project (Academy of Finland #266592). Support for participating twin projects: the University of Southern California Twin Study is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH58354). The Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging (CAATSA) was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (grant 1RO1-AG13662-01A2) to K. E. Whitfield. The NAS-NRC Twin Registry acknowledges financial support from the National Institutes of Health grant number R21 AG039572. Waves 1-3 of Genesis 12-19 were funded by the WT Grant Foundation, the University of London Central Research fund and a Medical Research Council Training Fellowship (G81/343) and Career Development Award (G120/635) to Thalia C. Eley. Wave 4 was supported by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-000-22-2206) and the Institute of Social Psychiatry (06/07-11) to Alice M. Gregory who was also supported at that time by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (RF/2/RFG/2008/0145). Wave 5 was supported by funding to Alice M. Gregory from Goldsmiths, University of London. Anthropometric measurements of the Hungarian twins were supported by Medexpert Ltd., Budapest, Hungary. South Korea Twin Registry is supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-371-2011-1B00047). The Danish Twin Registry is supported by the National Program for Research Infrastructure 2007 from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, The Research Council for Health and Disease, the Velux Foundation and the US National Institute of Health (P01 AG08761). Since its origin, the East Flanders Prospective Survey has been partly supported by grants from the Fund of Scientific Research, Flanders and Twins, a non-profit Association for Scientific Research in Multiple Births (Belgium). Korean Twin-Family Register was supported by the Global Research Network Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF 2011-220-E00006). The Colorado Twin Registry is funded by NIDA funded center grant DA011015 and Longitudinal Twin Study HD10333; Author Huibregtse is supported by 5T32DA017637-10. The Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging was supported by National Institute of Health grants NIA R01 AG018384, R01 AG018386, R01 AG022381, and R01 AG022982, and, in part, with resources of the VA San Diego Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health. The Cooperative Studies Program of the Office of Research & Development of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has provided financial support for the development and maintenance of the Vietnam Era Twin (VET) Registry. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIA/NIH, or the VA. The Australian Twin Registry is supported by a Centre of Research Excellence (grant ID 1079102) from the National Health and Medical Research Council administered by the University of Melbourne. The Michigan State University Twin Registry has been supported by Michigan State University, as well as grants R01-MH081813, R01-MH0820-54, R01-MH092377-02, R21-MH070542-01, R03-MH63851-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), R01-HD066040 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and 11-SPG-2518 from the MSU Foundation. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMH, the NICHD, or the National Institutes of Health.; r The California Twin Program was supported by The California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (7RT-0134H, 8RT-0107H, 6RT-0354H) and the National Institutes of Health (1R01ESO15150-01). The Guangzhou Twin Eye Study is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant #81125007). PETS was supported by grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (grant numbers 437015 and 607358 to JC, and RS), the Bonnie Babes Foundation (grant number BBF20704 to JMC), the Financial Markets Foundation for Children (grant no. 032-2007 to JMC), and by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. Data collection and analyses in Finnish twin cohorts have been supported by ENGAGE-European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology, FP7-HEALTH-F4-2007, grant agreement number 201413, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grants AA-12502, AA-00145, and AA-09203 to R. J. Rose, the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (grant numbers: 213506, 129680), and the Academy of Finland (grants 100499, 205585, 118555, 141054, 265240, 263278 and 264146 to J. Kaprio). K. Silventoinen is supported by Osaka University's International Joint Research Promotion Program. S. Y. Oncel and F. Aliev are supported by Kirikkale University Research Grant: KKU, 2009/43 and TUBITAK grant 114C117. The Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins was funded by the Starting Grant no. 240994 from the European Research Council (ERC) to Ariel Knafo. Data collection and research stemming from the Norwegian Twin Registry is supported, in part, from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programmes ENGAGE Consortium (grant agreement HEALTH-F4-2007-201413, and BioSHaRE EU (grant agreement HEALTH-F4-2010-261433). The Murcia Twin Registry is supported by the Seneca Foundation, Regional Agency for Science and Technology, Murcia, Spain (08633/PHCS/08 & 15302/PHCS/10) and Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (PSI11560-2009). The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is supported by a program grant (G0901245) from the UK Medical Research Council and the work on obesity in TEDS is supported in part by a grant from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (31/D19086). The Madeira data comes from the following project: genetic and environmental influences on physical activity, fitness, and health: the Madeira family study Project reference: POCI/DES/56834/2004 founded by the Portuguese agency for research (The Foundation for Science and Technology). The Boston University Twin Project is funded by grants (#R01 HD068435 #R01 MH062375) from the National Institutes of Health to K. Saudino. TwinsUK was funded by the Wellcome Trust; European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). The study also receives support from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) BioResource Clinical Research Facility and Biomedical Research Centre based at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. The University of Washington Twin Registry is supported by the grant NIH RC2 HL103416 (D. Buchwald, PI). The Netherlands Twin Register acknowledges the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and MagW/ZonMW grants 904-61-090, 985-10-002, 912-10-020, 904-61-193,480-04-004, 463-06-001, 451-04-034, 400-05-717, Addiction-31160008, Middelgroot-911-09-032, Spinozapremie 56-464-14192; VU University's Institute for Health and Care Research (EMGO+); the European Research Council (ERC-230374), the Avera Institute, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (USA).; r Gemini was supported by a grant from Cancer Research UK (C1418/A7974).

Published
2015
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45. Mothers’ and Fathers’ Prenatal Agreement and Differences Regarding Postnatal Parenting

Author

Ariel Knafo-Noam, Simcha Yagel, David Mankuta, Lior Abramson, and Jeffrey R. Gagne

Subjects
Future studies, Social Psychology, Similarity (psychology), Developmental and Educational Psychology, Positive parenting, Psychology, Child development, Education, Developmental psychology
Abstract

SYNOPSISObjective. Parental expectations before birth may predict children’s development and family environment. Researchers investigated the similarity and differences between expecting mothers and fathers regarding their future parental behavior. Design. Pregnant women (N = 820) and their partners (N = 512) completed questionnaires concerning their future parenting. Results. Mothers’ and fathers’ prenatal parental expectations correlated positively; mothers expected to show more warm, positive parenting and less negative, rejecting parenting compared to fathers; and for most parenting variables, mother–father agreement remained significant only for couples not knowing the fetus’s sex. Conclusions. Patterns of agreement and differences between mothers and fathers regarding future parenting resemble postnatal findings in the literature. Future studies should examine how prenatal expectations relate to postnatal parenting to better understand their significance in child development.

Published
2014
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46. Predicting the use of corporal punishment: Child aggression, parent religiosity, and the BDNF gene.

Author

Avinun, Reut, Davidov, Maayan, Mankuta, David, Knafo‐Noam, Ariel, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Subjects
CORPORAL punishment of children, RELIGIOUSNESS, BRAIN-derived neurotrophic factor, AGGRESSION (Psychology) in children, RELIGIOUS life of children
Abstract

Corporal punishment (CP) has been associated with deleterious child outcomes, highlighting the importance of understanding its underpinnings. Although several factors have been linked with parents' CP use, genetic influences on CP have rarely been studied, and an integrative view examining the interplay between different predictors of CP is missing. We focused on the separate and joint effects of religiosity, child aggression, parent's gender, and a valine (Val) to methionine (Met) substitution in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene. Data came from a twin sample (51% male, aged 6.5 years). We used mothers' and fathers' self-reports of CP and religiosity, and the other parent's report on child aggression. Complete data were available for 244 mothers and their 466 children, and for 217 fathers and their 409 children. The random split method was employed to examine replicability. For mothers, only the effect of religiosity appeared to replicate. For fathers, several effects predicting CP use replicated in both samples: child aggression, child sex, religiosity, and a three-way (GxExE) interaction implicating fathers' BDNF genotype, child aggression and religiosity. Religious fathers who carried the Met allele and had an aggressive child used CP more frequently; in contrast, secular fathers' CP use was not affected by their BDNF genotype or child aggression. Results were also repeated longitudinally in a subsample with age 8-9 data. Findings highlight the utility of a bio-ecological approach for studying CP use by shedding light on pertinent gene-environment interaction processes. Possible implications for intervention and public policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2018
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47. The influential child: How children affect their environment and influence their own risk and resilience

Author

Maayan Davidov, Ellen Moss, Lisa A. Serbin, and Ariel Knafo-Noam

Subjects
Psychopathology, media_common.quotation_subject, Socialization, Social environment, Resilience, Psychological, Affect (psychology), Social Environment, Variety (cybernetics), Developmental psychology, Psychiatry and Mental health, Interpersonal relationship, Empirical research, Risk-Taking, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Psychological resilience, Power, Psychological, Psychology, Child, Social psychology, Power (Psychology), media_common
Abstract

Views regarding children's influence on their environment and their own development have undergone considerable changes over the years. Following Bell's (1968) seminal paper, the notion of children's influence and the view of socialization as a bidirectional process have gradually gained wide acceptance. However, empirical research implementing this theoretical advancement has lagged behind. This Special Section compiles a collection of new empirical works addressing multiple forms of influential child processes, with special attention to their consequences for children's and others’ positive functioning, risk and resilience. By addressing a wide variety of child influences, this Special Section seeks to advance integration of influential child processes into myriad future studies on development and psychopathology and to promote the translation of such work into preventive interventions.

Published
2015

48. The Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins (LIST) Reaches Adolescence: Genetic and Environmental Pathways to Social, Personality and Moral Development.

Author

Vertsberger, Dana, Abramson, Lior, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Subjects
TWIN studies, GENOTYPE-environment interaction, BEHAVIOR genetics, PROSOCIAL behavior, PARENTING
Abstract

The Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins (LIST) focuses on the developmental, genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in children's and adolescents' social behavior. Key variables have been empathy, prosocial behavior, temperament and values. Another major goal of LIST has been to study gene-environment correlations, mainly concerning parenting. LIST includes 1657 families of Hebrew-speaking Israeli twins who have participated at least once in the study. Children's environment and their development are assessed in a multivariate, multimethod fashion, including observed, parent-reported and self-reported data. The current article summarizes and updates recent findings from LIST. For example, LIST provided evidence for the heritability of human values with the youngest sample to date, and the first genetic investigation of adolescents' identity formation. Finally, future aims of LIST are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2019
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49. The Motivational Aspect of Children's Delayed Gratification: Values and Decision Making in Middle Childhood.

Author

Twito, Louise, Israel, Salomon, Simonson, Itamar, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Subjects
DELAY of gratification, DECISION making in children, MENTAL representation, CHILDREN
Abstract

Delayed gratification is the ability to postpone an immediate gain in favor of greater and later reward. Although delayed gratification has been studied extensively, little is known about the motivation behind children's decisions. Since values are cognitive representations of individuals' motivations, which serve to guide behavior, we studied the relationship between children's values and delayed gratification. Two main distinct motivations overlapping with values may underlie this decision: conservation - the desire to reduce uncertainty and preserve the status quo, and self-enhancement – the desire to maximize resources and profit for the self. Accordingly, we hypothesized that conservation values would relate to children's preference to hold on to what is given as soon as possible, and that self-enhancement values would relate to children's preference for delaying gratification. Seven-year old children (N = 205) ranked their values with the Picture-Based Values Survey (Döring et al., 2010) as part of the Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins (LIST) (Avinun and Knafo, 2013). The children also played a decision-making animation game that included delayed gratification decisions. In support of our hypotheses, greater delayed gratification related negatively to conservation values, specifically to security and tradition, and related positively to self-enhancement values, especially power and achievement. This is one of the first demonstrations that children's values relate meaningfully to their behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2019
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50. Shared Environment Effects on Children's Emotion Recognition.

Author

Schapira, Rotem, Elfenbein, Hillary Anger, Amichay-Setter, Meirav, Zahn-Waxler, Carolyn, and Knafo-Noam, Ariel

Subjects
EMOTION recognition in children, EMPATHY, SOCIAL interaction, BIVARIATE analysis, GENETICS, INDIVIDUAL differences
Abstract

Empathy is relevant to many psychiatric conditions. Empathy involves the natural ability to perceive and be sensitive to the emotional states of others. Thus, emotion recognition (ER) abilities are key to understanding empathy. Despite the importance of ER to normal and abnormal social interactions, little is known about how it develops throughout childhood. We examined genetic and environmental influences on children's ER via facial and vocal cues in 344 7-year-old twin children [59 monozygotic (MZ) and 113 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) pairs], who were part of the Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins. ER was assessed with the child version of the Diagnostic Assessment of Nonverbal Accuracy. For both facial and vocal cues of emotion, twin correlations were not higher for MZ twins than for DZ twins, suggesting no heritability for ER in this population. In contrast, correlations were positive for both types of twins, indicating a shared environmental effect. This was supported by a bivariate genetic analysis. This pattern was robust to controlling for twins being of the same sex and age. Effects remained after controlling for background variables such as family income and number of additional siblings. The analysis found a shared environmental correlation between facial and vocal ER (r c =.63), indicating that the shared environmental factors contributed to the overlap between vocal and facial ER. The study highlights the importance of the shared environment to children's ER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2019
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