Identical twins share more that their genes. They may share their children.
Identical twins share more that their genes. They may share their children.
According to Psychology Today, some adult twins see themselves as secondary parents to their nieces and nephews. Here's why:
Identical twins are genetic copies of each other. So when one twin has a child, that child shares half of his genes with both his parent and his parent's twin. Which means genetically speaking, identical twins are parents to each other's children.
Nancy Segal is the director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University in Fullerton. She wanted to find out how these genetic ties affected family relationships, so she examined 300 sets of identical and fraternal twins. Segal found that more than 60% of identical twins thought of their nieces and nephews as their own. That was significantly more than the fraternal pairs.
You see, ordinary siblings and fraternal twins only have 50% of their genes in common - but identical twins are 100% the same. So biologically speaking, they're more closely linked to each other's offspring. Which is why identical twins feel so strongly about caring for them.
According to Psychology Today, some adult twins see themselves as secondary parents to their nieces and nephews. Here's why:
Identical twins are genetic copies of each other. So when one twin has a child, that child shares half of his genes with both his parent and his parent's twin. Which means genetically speaking, identical twins are parents to each other's children.
Nancy Segal is the director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University in Fullerton. She wanted to find out how these genetic ties affected family relationships, so she examined 300 sets of identical and fraternal twins. Segal found that more than 60% of identical twins thought of their nieces and nephews as their own. That was significantly more than the fraternal pairs.
You see, ordinary siblings and fraternal twins only have 50% of their genes in common - but identical twins are 100% the same. So biologically speaking, they're more closely linked to each other's offspring. Which is why identical twins feel so strongly about caring for them.
