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Estimating Heritability from Twin Studies

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Book cover Statistical Human Genetics

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1666))

Abstract

This chapter describes how the heritability of a trait can be estimated using data collected from pairs of twins. The principles of the classical twin design are described, followed by the assumptions, and some possible extensions of the design. In the second part of this chapter, two example scripts are presented and the basic steps for estimating heritability using the statistical program OpenMx are explained. OpenMx and the scripts used for this chapter can be downloaded so that readers can adapt and use the scripts for their own purposes.

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References

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Author notes

  1. Katrina L. Grasby, Karin J.H. Verweij and Miriam A. Mosing contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetic Epidemiolgy, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia

    Katrina L. Grasby, Karin J. H. Verweij & Sarah E. Medland

  2. Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Miriam A. Mosing

  3. Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Miriam A. Mosing

  4. School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Brendan P. Zietsch

  5. Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Montessorilaan 3, 6525, HR Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Karin J. H. Verweij

Authors
  1. Katrina L. Grasby
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  2. Karin J. H. Verweij
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  3. Miriam A. Mosing
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  4. Brendan P. Zietsch
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  5. Sarah E. Medland
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah E. Medland .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Robert C. Elston

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media LLC

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Grasby, K.L., Verweij, K.J.H., Mosing, M.A., Zietsch, B.P., Medland, S.E. (2017). Estimating Heritability from Twin Studies. In: Elston, R. (eds) Statistical Human Genetics. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1666. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7274-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7274-6_9

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7273-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7274-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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