Studies of identical twins reared apart

Presents a case report of four pairs of identical twins who were reared apart. These summaries and analyses of data were collected by Barbara Burks and found in her files after her death. There are often cryptic notations which were obviously intended to remind her of incidents or opinions which she would have remembered in analyzing the data. The impossibility of deciphering these and lack of personal acquaintance with any of the subjects necessarily rob this published record of that warm, personal touch which Barbara Burks was so richly able to give the raw clinical data, and make judgment of many points of clinical interest impracticable. The twins Clara and Doris, among the youngest of 14 siblings whose history includes numerous instances of unstable maladjusted behavior, were separated when less than two years of age, and shortly afterward adopted by two different families. The chief environmental differences were as follows: for Clara (Twin C), residence in moderate sized city, only child of fond foster parents, extremely mild discipline, regular school attendance until fifth grade, marriage at 17 to stable older man; for Doris (Twin D), residence in large city, one of three children, in household with harsh foster parents, extremely strict discipline, intermittent school attendance, marriage at 33 to shell-shocked veteran. Neither C nor D did well in school, though D did manage to learn reading and writing. Both C and D left school at the age of about 12, and both held a series of odd jobs until they were married. The socioeconomic status of their families was similar. The twins Earl (E) and Frank (F) were led to believe that they were cousins. When they were 15, Frank made a trip to the West Coast to visit Earl, but it was not until eight years later, when Earl returned the visit, that the boys learned they were twins. Comparison of E and F on physical traits leads to the conclusion that they are monozygotic. Ratings by Dr. Burks on characteristics observed during the interviews were identical in three fourths of the items. Ratings by the two wives of the twins on certain physical and sensory traits showed agreement that both E and F were alike in many points and notably different only in two: sociality and trustfulness of others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)