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Individual sensitivity: nature or nurture?

Queen Mary University and King's College London have published a study of identical and non-identical 17-year-old twins to understand how much differences in sensitivity could be explained by either genetic or environmental factors during development: nature or nurture.

The sample for the study included a subset of adolescent twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study, a large longitudinal epidemiological study of over 16,000 twin pairs born in England and Wales between 1994 and 1996.

The team found that 47 per cent of the differences in sensitivity between individuals were down to genetics, leaving 53 per cent accounted for by environmental factors. The research is the first to show this link conclusively in such a large study.

Michael Pluess, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Queen Mary University and study lead, said: “We are all affected by what we experience - sensitivity is something we all share as a basic human trait. But we also differ in how much of an impact our experiences have on us. Scientists have always thought there was a genetic basis for sensitivity, but this is the first time we’ve been able to actually quantify how much of these differences in sensitivity are explained by genetic factors.”

“We know from previous research that around a third of people are at the higher end of the sensitivity spectrum. They are generally more strongly affected by their experiences,” he said. “This can have both advantages and disadvantages. Because we now know that this sensitivity is as much due to biology as environment, it is important for people to accept their sensitivity as an important part of who they are and consider it as a strength not just as a weakness.”


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