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Children of the Twins Early Development Study (CoTEDS): A Children-of-Twins Study
Yasmin I Ahmadzadeh1, Thalia C Eley1, Robert Plomin1
1Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Insights
The Children of the Twins Early Development Study (CoTEDS) investigates genetic and environmental influences on child development and parent-child associations. This study examines how parenting and child traits are shaped across generations.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Genetics
- Pediatric Health
Background:
- The Children of the Twins Early Development Study (CoTEDS) is a prospective UK-based study.
- It builds upon the established Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), recruiting a second generation of participants.
- CoTEDS aims to explore intergenerational links in child development, focusing on mental health and cognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate genetic and environmental factors influencing parent-child associations.
- To examine the role of parenting in child development across various stages.
- To understand the interplay of genetic and environmental influences on parenting behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort design recruiting offspring of adult twins from the TEDS study.
- Parent questionnaire-based data collection for infants aged 1-2 years, with ongoing recruitment.
- Measurement of child mental health, temperament, language, cognition, and socioecological factors; parent mental health and social relationships; and parenting behaviors.
Main Results:
- Recruitment is ongoing, with 554 children registered as of May 2019.
- Data collection is underway for key developmental and familial constructs.
- Measurement tools are aligned with existing cohorts to facilitate cross-study comparisons.
Conclusions:
- CoTEDS provides a novel resource for examining intergenerational influences on child development.
- The study design facilitates research into the complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors in parenting and child outcomes.
- Future analyses will leverage overlapping phenotypes with other cohorts for robust findings.
Abstract:
The Children of the Twins Early Development Study (CoTEDS) is a new prospective children-of-twins study in the UK, designed to investigate intergenerational associations across child developmental stages. CoTEDS will enable research on genetic and environmental factors that underpin parent-child associations, with a focus on mental health and cognitive-related traits. Through CoTEDS, we will have a new lens to examine the roles that parents play in influencing child development, as well as the genetic and environmental factors that shape parenting behavior and experiences. Recruitment is ongoing from the sample of approximately 20,000 contactable adult twins who have been enrolled in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) since infancy. TEDS twins are invited to register all offspring to CoTEDS at birth, with 554 children registered as of May 2019. By recruiting the second generation of TEDS participants, CoTEDS will include information on adult twins and their offspring from infancy. Parent questionnaire-based data collection is now underway for 1- and 2-year-old CoTEDS infants, with further waves of data collection planned. Current data collection includes the following primary constructs: child mental health, temperament, language and cognitive development; parent mental health and social relationships; parenting behaviors and feelings; and other socioecological factors. Measurement tools have been selected with reference to existing genetically informative cohort studies to ensure overlap in phenotypes measured at corresponding stages of development. This built-in study overlap is intended to enable replication and triangulation of future analyses across samples and research designs. Here, we summarize study protocols and measurement procedures and describe future plans.
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