Hostname: page-component-6898cfcb55-zkb6p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-11T12:26:07.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social class and human twinning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Birgitte Bønnelykke
Birgitte Bønnelykke
Affiliation:
Cytogenetics Laboratory, Aarhus Psychiatric Hospital, Denmark
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In a comparative study to examine the effect of social factors on human twinning, data on sociodemographic and other factors were collected from parents of all twins born alive in Denmark in 1984 or 1985 and from a random sample of parents of singleton infants born in the same years. A postal questionnaire was used. The twins were classified as monozygotic (MZ) or dizygotic (DZ) twins by the similarity method. A trend was found in DZ-twinning, with significantly fewer DZ-twins born in the lower social classes, but not in MZ-twinning. All results were controlled for maternal age and parity.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , July 1990, pp. 381 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, W. J. R. (1956) Stillbirth and neonatal mortality in twin pregnancy. J. Obstet. Gynaec. Br. Emp. 63, 205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Armitage, P. (1971) Statistical Methods in Medical Research. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bishop, Y. M. M., Feinberg, S. E., Holland, P. W. (1975) Discrete Multivariable Analyses: Theory and Practice. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Bønnelykke, B., Olsen, J. & Nielsen, J. (1990) Coital frequency and twinning. J. biosoc. Sci. 22, 193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, D. M., Campbell, A. J. & MacGillivray, I. (1974) Maternal characteristics of women having twin pregnancies. J. biosoc. Sci. 6, 463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corney, G., Seedburgh, D., Thompson, B., Campbell, D. M., MacGillivray, I. & Timlin, D.(1979) Maternal height and twinning. Ann. hum. Genet. 43, 55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elwood, J. M. (1973) Changes in the twinning rate in Canada 1926–70. Br. J. prev. soc. Med. 27,236.Google ScholarPubMed
Hansen, E. J. (1984) Socialgrupper i Danmark. SFI Studie 48, Socialforskningsinstituttet, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Hemon, D., Berger, C., Lazar, P. (1979) The etiology of human dizygotic twinning with special reference to spontaneous abortions. Acta Genet. med. Gemell. 28, 253.Google ScholarPubMed
James, W. H. (1972) Secular changes in dizygotic twinning rates. J. biosoc. Sci. 4, 427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeanneret, O. & McMahon, B. (1962) Secular changes in rates of multiple births in the United States. Am. J. hum. Genet. 14, 410.Google ScholarPubMed
Lilienfeld, A. M. & Pasamanick, B. (1955) A study of variations in the frequency of twin births by race and socioeconomic status. Am. J. hum. Genet. 7, 204.Google Scholar
McArthur, J. W. (1942) Relations of body size to litter size and to the incidence of fraternal twins.J. Hered. 33, 87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, J., Homma, A., Isaksen, B. & Bertelsen, A. (1978) Incidence of twin births in Denmark from 1911 to 1974. Acta Genet. med. Gemell. 27, 45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nylander, P. P. S. (1981) The factors that influence twinning rates. Acta Genet. med. Gemell. 30,189.Google ScholarPubMed
Rachootin, P. & Olsen, J. (1980) Secular changes in the twinning rate in Denmark 1931 to 1977.Scand. J. Social Med. 8, 89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A. (1974) Observations on the Determinants of Human Multiple Birth. Annual Report of the Registrar General for Scotland. Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Torgersen, J. (1951) Hereditary and environmental factors in twinning. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 9,441.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed