Minnesota Twin Family Study - Adoption

Adoption

The Twin Study seeks to identify genetic and environmental influences on the development of psychological traits. The value of the research was the ability to estimate the inheritability of certain traits, including academic ability, personality and interests, family and social relationships, mental and physical health, and other physiological measurements. Researchers had also studied the prevalence of psychopathology, substance use, divorce, leadership, and other traits. The relevance of the studies pertained to the importance of heredity as a determining factor in shaping our physical appearance, mental acuteness, preferences, personal characteristics, and personality. Researchers found the similarities between twins raised in separate homes with different parents to be remarkably strong. The research gives significant weight to the importance of genetics as a key factor in determining physical appearance and attributes, as well as personalities and inherent abilities. This research has inferred correlations for all children raised outside their genealogical, biological, and ancestral groupings. Judith and Martin Land, (2011) Adoption Detective: Memoir of an Adopted Child, p. 96-97, 279, acknowledge The Minnesota Twin Family Study as a key reference. Children who are orphaned, fostered, or adopted may have certain behavior or inheritable traits activated by certain environmental factors or adopted parents, but only within the limitations of their genes. American public opinion, with the support of the courts, and national media attention, seek to maintain a benevolent civil approach to the raising of children that discourages profiling and prejudice. For that reason genetic and psychological research of this type is automatically rejected by some groups and individuals.