Longitudinal study of interpersonal dependency in female twins.

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal dependence is thought to be important in a number of physical and psychological disorders. There are several developmental theories that suggest environmental influences in childhood are important.

METHOD: A twin study methodology was used to look at the genetic and environmental influences on interpersonal dependence as measured by a sub-scale of the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory with a population-based sample of 2230 twins.

RESULTS

Psychometric analysis revealed that this was a stable measure and that there was a substantial degree of construct validity. Both univariate and longitudinal twin analysis suggested that there was a modest genetic influence and a large, specific environment influence on interpersonal dependency as measured by this scale. The longitudinal analysis revealed that the genetic influence was stable over the time-scale sampled and the environmental influence was moderately stable.

CONCLUSIONS

This finding is at odds with theories that suggest shared environment is important in the aetiology of interpersonal dependency.