Silventoinen Karri, Bogl Leonie H, Jelenkovic Aline, Vuoksimaa Eero, Latvala Antti, Li Weilong, Tan Qihua, Zhang Dongfeng, Pang Zengchang, Ordoñana Juan R, Sánchez-Romera Juan F, Colodro-Conde Lucia, Willemsen Gonneke, Bartels Meike, van Beijsterveldt Catharina E M, Rebato Esther, Corley Robin P, Huibregtse Brooke M, Hopper John L, Tyler Jessica, Duncan Glen E, Buchwald Dedra, Silberg Judy L, Maes Hermine H, Kandler Christian, Cozen Wendy, Hwang Amie E, Mack Thomas M, Nelson Tracy L, Whitfield Keith E, Medda Emanuela, Nisticò Lorenza, Toccaceli Virgilia, Krueger Robert F, McGue Matt, Pahlen Shandell, Martin Nicholas G, Medland Sarah E, Montgomery Grant W, Heikkilä Kauko, Derom Catherine A, Vlietinck Robert F, Loos Ruth J F, Magnusson Patrik K E, Pedersen Nancy L, Dahl Aslan Anna K, Hotopf Matthew, Sumathipala Athula, Rijsdijk Fruhling, Siribaddana Sisira H, Rose Richard J, Sørensen Thorkild I A, Boomsma Dorret I, Kaprio Jaakko
Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Institute for Molecular Medicine FIMM, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Epidemiology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Horm Behav. 2021 Nov;136:105054. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.105054. Epub 2021 Sep 3.
Comparing twins from same- and opposite-sex pairs can provide information on potential sex differences in a variety of outcomes, including socioeconomic-related outcomes such as educational attainment. It has been suggested that this design can be applied to examine the putative role of intrauterine exposure to testosterone for educational attainment, but the evidence is still disputed. Thus, we established an international database of twin data from 11 countries with 88,290 individual dizygotic twins born over 100 years and tested for differences between twins from same- and opposite-sex dizygotic pairs in educational attainment. Effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated by linear regression models after adjusting for birth year and twin study cohort. In contrast to the hypothesis, no difference was found in women (β = -0.05 educational years, 95% CI -0.11, 0.02). However, men with a same-sex co-twin were slightly more educated than men having an opposite-sex co-twin (β = 0.14 educational years, 95% CI 0.07, 0.21). No consistent differences in effect sizes were found between individual twin study cohorts representing Europe, the USA, and Australia or over the cohorts born during the 20th century, during which period the sex differences in education reversed favoring women in the latest birth cohorts. Further, no interaction was found with maternal or paternal education. Our results contradict the hypothesis that there would be differences in the intrauterine testosterone levels between same-sex and opposite-sex female twins affecting education. Our findings in men may point to social dynamics within same-sex twin pairs that may benefit men in their educational careers.
比较同性和异性双胞胎可以提供有关各种结果中潜在性别差异的信息，包括与社会经济相关的结果，如教育程度。有人认为，这种设计可用于检验子宫内暴露于睾酮对教育程度的假定作用，但证据仍存在争议。因此，我们建立了一个来自11个国家的双胞胎数据国际数据库，其中包含100多年间出生的88290对异卵双胞胎个体，并测试了同性和异性异卵双胞胎在教育程度上的差异。在调整出生年份和双胞胎研究队列后，通过线性回归模型估计效应大小及其95%置信区间（CI）。与假设相反，在女性中未发现差异（β = -0.05教育年限，95% CI -0.11，0.02）。然而，有同性双胞胎的男性比有异性双胞胎的男性受教育程度略高（β = 0.14教育年限，95% CI 0.07，0.21）。在代表欧洲、美国和澳大利亚的各个双胞胎研究队列之间，或在20世纪出生的队列中，效应大小没有发现一致的差异，在此期间，教育方面的性别差异发生了逆转，在最近的出生队列中有利于女性。此外，未发现与母亲或父亲教育程度的相互作用。我们的结果与同性和异性女性双胞胎之间子宫内睾酮水平存在差异影响教育的假设相矛盾。我们在男性中的发现可能指向同性双胞胎对中的社会动态，这可能有利于男性的教育生涯。
