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The Premenstrual Syndrome: A Twin Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John T. Condon
John T. Condon*
Affiliation:
Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5042, Australia
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Abstract

Data are presented from 157 monozygotic and 143 dizygotic female twin pairs of reproductive age who completed a self-report questionnaire on the premenstrual syndrome (PMS). For global PMS scores, the correlation coefficient for the monozygotic twins (0.55) was double that of the dizygotic ones (0.28). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that aggregation for global PMS scores is determined by genetic factors acting additively over a number of loci. Two alternative explanations are suggested: that monozygotic twins share greater environmental similarities than dizygotic ones; or that PMS scores may be a reflection of some other underlying characteristic (such as neuroticism), which is itself genetically determined.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 162 , Issue 4 , April 1993 , pp. 481 - 486
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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