Question

A twin study was conducted to ascertain the genetic contribution to exam anxiety. It was found that in monozygotic twins the concordance for exam anxiety was 90% and in dizygotic twins it was 55%. What does this suggest about the contribution of genetics to this trait?

Answer 1

A higher rate of concordance in monozygotic twins in comparison to dizygotic twins is a proved evidence of the contribution of the genetic constituent as monozygotic twins are genetically more identical in comparison to dizygotic twins. The monozygotic twins share all the genes in common and dizygotic twins on average share half of their genes in common.

Thus, the concordance in monozygotic twins is more in comparison with that of dizygotic twins, which shows the contribution of genetics to this trait.