Kinship Studies (Genetic Similarity)

Define kinship studies.

Studies that investigate genetic and biological influences on behaviour by comparing relatives.

What do kinship studies aim to uncover?

The degree to which genetic and environmental factors influence behaviour within families.

List two ways kinship studies measure behaviour.

Across generations and within a generation.

What is a key feature of kinship studies in terms of time frame?

They are often longitudinal.

What research design do kinship studies commonly use?

Case-control studies.

(+) Why are kinship studies more controlled than studies of unrelated people?

Relatives often share the same home, diet, and physical activity level.

What is one advantage of kinship studies?

They control for many environmental factors shared among family members.

(-) What is one limitation of kinship studies related to genetics?

They limit overall genetic variability in the sample.

(-) Why is it difficult to get reliable kinship data across many generations?

Accurate records or observations become scarce with time.

(-) Why might data from kinship studies be unreliable for older generations?

It often relies on anecdotal reports subject to memory distortion.

(-) Why can older diagnoses in kinship studies be uncertain?

Psychological disorders were not systematically diagnosed in previous generations.

(-) What assumption must researchers often make in historical kinship data?

They infer potential diagnoses based on modern understanding of symptoms.