The Twin Relationship Questionnaire

Abstract

Abstract. Twins’ relationships evoke critical dilemmas for parents and teachers regarding raising and educating their twins. The current study provides comprehensive psychometric information about the Twin Relationship Questionnaire (TRQ; Fortuna, Goldner, & Knafo, 2010 ) as examined in nine samples, using mothers’ and fathers’ reports on 1,560 pairs of twins, tested in five measurement points from age 3 to age 9. On half of the subsamples, we conducted principal component analyses (PCA), whereas on the other subsamples, we conducted confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Five factors were found in the PCA and confirmed by the CFA: conflict, closeness, dependence, dominance, and rivalry. All scales showed adequate internal consistencies and corrected item-total correlations. Correlation matrixes between scales demonstrate a triad of conflict, rivalry, and dominance scales, as opposed to the dyad of closeness and dependence. As evidence for the TRQ’s reliability and validity, we report the degree of agreement between mothers and fathers, the 10-month stability of mothers’ reports, and the associations of the TRQ subscales with experimentally assessed prosocial behaviors between the twins at age 6.5, and with the twins’ reports on their closeness at age 11. The replication of the findings across ages and raters reinforces the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.

“Side by side”: Development of twin relationship dimensions from early to middle childhood and the role of zygosity and parenting

“…On top of our interest in the developmental path of each relationship dimension, we were interested in the mutual developmental courses of all the relationship dimensions. Since positive associations between closeness and dependence, as well as between conflict and rivalry, were found in our previous study in each measurement point (Table 1; H. Segal & Knafo-Noam, 2019), we expected that the developmental paths of the twins' closeness and dependence would be associated with each other, as would be the case for the developmental paths of conflict and rivalry. Since closeness and conflict were found to be only weakly associated (Table 1), we expected them to develop independently through childhood.…”

“…The internal consistencies of the closeness, dependence, conflict and rivalry scales ranged from .72 to .89 across ages, indicating adequate internal consistencies. The construct validity of the TRQ was supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and the external validity was tested against experimentally assessed pro-social behaviors between the twins at age 6.5, and against the twins' own reports on their closeness at age 11 (H. Segal & Knafo-Noam, 2019). The four scales were found to be dyadic variables, showing high inter-twin correlations in all measurement points ranging from .73 to .85 for closeness, from .77 to .88 for dependence, from .71 to .83 for conflict, and from .65 to .78 for rivalry (all inter-twin correlations were significant, p < .001).…”

“…Mothers' and fathers' reports on the twins' relationships presented a similar pattern (Figure 1). However, since we had a considerably larger number of mothers' reports than fathers' reports and since we found in our previous study (H. Segal & Knafo-Noam, 2019) that the correlations between mothers' and fathers' reports were substantial but not very high (r ¼ .30-.53), we decided not to average their reports into united scores.…”

Perspectivas maternas sobre separar ou não gêmeos na escola: uma abordagem psicoetológica das causas e consequências

“…Sob a perspectiva evolucionista, ter a mesma idade significa compartilhar as mesmas necessidades em relação aos recursos limitados oferecidos pelos pais e, consequentemente, algumas formas de conflito podem ocorrer (Trivers, 1972). Por isso, conflito e rivalidade são dimensões muito interligadas (H. Segal & Knafo-Noam, 2019). Logo, as mães podem optar por separar os gêmeos esperando que a rivalidade e o conflito diminuam.…”

“…Lytton, 1977) (Fortuna et al, 2010). Anos depois, a validação foi realizada e uma dimensão foi acrescentada, a dominância (H. Segal & Knafo-Noam, 2019). O Painel USP de Gêmeos traduziu e validou essa escala para a população brasileira, encontrando as mesmas cinco dimensões.…”