1 KAYLA N. ANDERSON1 MARTHA A. RUETER

2 JENNIFER J. CONNOR

1 U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I N N E S O TA – T W I N C I T I E S2 S T. C L O U D S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

Twin Families: When Parental Conformity Relates to

Positive Child Outcomes

Why Twins?

Twin rate: from 0.01 to 3.41% of all births (ASRM, 2012)

Predominantly due to infertility treatment growth (like IVF) 20 (Europe; ESHRE, 2014) to 30% (US; CDC, 2014) of IVF births = twins.

This is more than 20X the rate of twins in the general population

Compared to singletons, twins’ early environments… …Aren’t good. This may be particularly true in IVF twin births.

60% of IVF twins premature; 53% low birth weight (SART, 2014)

Relative to singletons, twin parents have higher rates of parenting stress, anxiety & depression, and have poorer early parenting skills (Olivennes et al., 2005; Thorpe et al., 2003; Vilksa & Unkila-Kallio, 2010; Holditch-Davis et al., 1999)

(In singletons), these issues are related to worse child psychosocial adjustment.

Why Twins?

Head scratcher: Twins have better psychosocial adjustment than singletons by middle childhood (Anderson et al., 2014; Pulkkinen et al., 2003; Robbers et al., 2010; Moilanen et al., 1999).

Why is this? No one knows. Do twin family resources have different

effects on family (and indirectly child) outcomes relative to singletons? (Anderson et al., 2014; Boss, 2002; McCubbin, 1979; Hill, 1958).

In twin families, parents may have high expectations for conformity to their rules to maintain order and reduce household chaos (Garel et al., 1997; Jenkins & Coker, 2010).

This Study!

Two goals: Do parental conformity expectations have different

effects on family outcomes, such as parent-child relationship satisfaction, in twin and singleton families?

Does the moderating effect of parental conformity expectations by twin status indirectly explain differences in twins’ and singletons’ psychosocial adjustment?

Study Participants

198 families; 288 6 – 12 year old kids

126 twins (63 pairs); 162 singletons

86% location, 82% participation rateAll IVF kids born between 1998-2004

University of Minnesota Reproductive Medicine CenterPatient records (mother)

Study Participants

IVF: High income, highly educated, predominantly White

Kids: 54% female; M age = 8.47

28% Twin Birth Rate

Study Measures

Study Concept Measurement

Twin Status 0 = Singleton; 1 = Twin

Parent-child Relationship Satisfaction

Adaptation of Huston MOQ Relationship Measure (Huston & Vangelisti, 1991; Caughlin & Afifi, 2004)

Parental Conformity Expectations Conformity subscale: Revised Family Communication Patterns Questionnaire (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990)

Child Psychosocial Adjustment Child Behavior Checklist: Internalizing, Externalizing, & Attention Problems subscales (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001)

Covariates: Parent emotional state (Adult Self Report Anxious Depressed Scale;

Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003), age & education; child sex, age & prematurity status (1 = premature, 0 = not premature)

Statistical Model

Twin StatusParent-child Relationship Satisfaction

Child Adjustment

Parental Conformity

Expectations

P. Emotional State P. Education

P. Age C. Age C. SexC.

Premature

Indirect effects from the interaction (twin status X

conformity) & child adjustment were modeled.

Child (Twin vs. Singleton) Emotional Problems

Twin StatusParent-child Relationship Satisfaction

Emotional Problems

Parental Conformity

Expectations

β=-0.35, p <.001

β=0.16, p=0.015

Indirect effect interaction emotional adjustment:β= -0.06, p = 0.027

Model Fit

c 2 =6.43, df = 6, p =0.38 SRMR = 0.01

CFI = 0.99 Dc2 = 1.14, df = 5, p > 0.05

TLI = 0.98 PC RS R2 =.14 (p=.017)

RMSEA = 0.02 EP R2 =.24 (p<.001)

Child (Twin vs. Singleton) Behavior Problems

Twin StatusParent-child Relationship Satisfaction

Behavior Problems

Parental Conformity

Expectations

β=-0.53, p <.001

β=0.14, p=0.028

Indirect effect interaction behavioral adjustment:β= -0.06, p = 0.027

Model Fit

c 2 =3.56, df = 6, p =0.74 SRMR = 0.01

CFI = 1.00 Dc2 = 0.94, df = 5, p > 0.05

TLI = 1.07 PC RS R2 =.14 (p=.019)

RMSEA = 0.00 EP R2 =.39 (p<.001)

Twin Status Behavior Problems: β=-0.17, p <.001

Child (Twin vs. Singleton) Attention Problems

Twin StatusParent-child Relationship Satisfaction

Attention Problems

Parental Conformity

Expectations

β=-0.45, p <.001

β=0.15, p=0.020

Indirect effect interaction attention problems:β= -0.07, p = 0.028

Model Fit

c 2 =1.13 df = 6, p =0.98 SRMR = 0.00

CFI = 1.00 Dc2 = 0.67, df = 5, p > 0.05

TLI = 1.17 PC RS R2 =.13 (p=.019)

RMSEA = 0.00 EP R2 =.29 (p<.001)

Twin Status Attention Problems: β=-0.20, p <.001

Twin Status*Parental Conformity Expectations

Singletons Twins5.5

6

6.5

7

Low Parental Conformity ExpectationsHigh Parental Conformity Expectations

Par

ent-

chil

d R

elat

ions

hip

Sat

isfa

ctio

n

Low conformity: Twins had negative relationship with satisfaction, b-0.19, p =.013

High conformity: Twins have positive relationship with satisfaction, b = 2.71, p =.010

Conclusions & Future Directions

Parental conformity expectations do have different effects on family outcomes (parent-child relationship satisfaction) in twin and singleton families. What other family resources may have different effects? What else of we know about singletons can’t be exactly applied

to twin populations?Different effects of conformity*twin status indirectly

(partially) explain twins’ more positive adjustment What other factors explain twins’ more positive adjustment.

How does this relate to what we know about early cognitive development in twins? (twins worse; Olivennes et al., 2005; Thorpe et al., 2003; Rutter et al., 2003)

Conclusions & Future Directions

How might this be the same or different in twins born without medical assistance? What IVF specific factors should be examined that

might be different from general population twins?What might this look like in adolescence?When is it that the shift in adjustment occurs,

and when is it that family environments stop being detrimental to twins and shift to being more helpful? Parenting and relationship factors linked to poor twin

and parent outcomes in early childhood (Thorpe et al., 2003; Baor & Soskolne, 2012).

Contact & Acknowledgements

Contact: Kayla Anderson, and02584@umn.edu

Funding: Olson Marriage & Family Fellowship Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station UMN Grant-in-Aid of Research UMN College of Education & Human Development

Investment Grant

References

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