Bias in the estimation of heritability from truncated samples of twins

Martin, N. G.; Wilson, S. R.

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Bias in the estimation of heritability from truncated samples of twins

Date

1982

Authors

Martin, N. G.

Wilson, S. R.

Abstract

Sampling twins from a truncated distribution and ignoring this truncation in the estimation procedure lowers correlation coefficients and can considerably bias estimates of the proportions of genetic and environmental variance. A greater proportion of DZ than MZ twins will be missed in sampling for any heritable trait. The implications for two published sets of educational achievement data are considered.