Academic Achievement of Twins vs. Singletons in Taiwan
Author Information
Author(s): Tsou Meng-Ting, Tsou Meng-Wen, Wu Ming-Ping, Liu Jin-Tan
Primary Institution: Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taiwan
Hypothesis
Do twins have lower academic achievements in early adulthood compared to singletons, particularly influenced by low birth weight?
Conclusion
Twins perform less well academically than singletons, with low birth weight negatively impacting their academic achievement more significantly.
Supporting Evidence
- Twins had significantly lower mean test scores than singletons in Chinese, mathematics, and natural science.
- Low birthweight twins had an 8.5% lower probability of college attendance than normal weight twins.
- Low birth weight negatively affected test scores in English and mathematics more for twins than for singletons.
Takeaway
Twins tend to do worse in school than kids who are born alone, especially if they were born with low weight.
Methodology
Cohort study using Taiwanese nationwide academic outcomes linked to birth records, analyzing college attendance and test scores.
Potential Biases
Selection bias due to exclusion of those who did not take college entrance exams.
Limitations
Potential selection bias, missing data on confounding factors, and inability to distinguish between dizygotic and monozygotic twins.
Participant Demographics
Participants included 218,972 singletons and 1,687 twins born in Taiwan between 1983-1985.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.022
Confidence Interval
(0.78 to 0.96)
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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