Can boy-girl twins both be born with ADHD?

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Joe90
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08 Jul 2014, 12:40 pm

I was thinking of writing a story about twins, one boy and one girl, both with ADHD. But before writing my story, I just wanted to ask if twins of the opposite sex can both be born with the same condition. I tried googling this but couldn't find any answers. I am really looking forward to writing this story but I want it to be realistic. I would also like to know some other facts about girl-boy twins. I often wish I had a twin brother, as twins fascinate me, especially boy-girl twins.

Thanks!


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LostInSpace
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08 Jul 2014, 12:50 pm

Don't see why not. Non-twin siblings can both be born with the same condition, so why not twins? It's not like ADHD is rare, and it certainly seems to have a genetic component.


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LookingLost
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08 Jul 2014, 1:06 pm

Different sex twins are non-identical. Non-identical twins share around 50% of their genes, which is about the same amount as non-twin siblings. ADHD supposedly has a strong genetic basis, so can run in families. A study I just found on ADHD in twins showed a high concordance rate for ADHD in identical twins, and a zero concordance rate for non-identical twins, which suggests that non-identical twins are no more likely to both have ADHD than, say, a brother and sister of different ages. Don't see why they couldn't both have ADHD though, as two non-twin siblings might both have ADHD.

Don't know whether that's correct, makes sense, or is what you were looking for...
Here's a link to the study I found:

Concordance rates for ADHD in twins study

Good luck with your story. :)


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Quill
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08 Jul 2014, 3:59 pm

I have cousins who are boy-girl twins and both have ADHD. I would try to tell you some interesting things, but there really isn't much to say. They were never very close growing up, in fact I really only ever thought about them being twins when their birthday came up. They look very different from each other and have very different personalities, basically just like any other siblings. Good luck with your story!



Joe90
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08 Jul 2014, 4:10 pm

Thanks everybody who replied so far.

In my story I want to make the twins be extremely close to each other and share a ''twin bond'', and hang out with the same friends and do a lot together. I will make the girl be quite tomboyish, even as a grown-up. But them both having ADHD will make the story more interesting, and make them both have very interesting personalities.


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Basso53
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09 Jul 2014, 2:58 pm

LookingLost wrote:
Different sex twins are non-identical. Non-identical twins share around 50% of their genes, which is about the same amount as non-twin siblings. ADHD supposedly has a strong genetic basis, so can run in families. A study I just found on ADHD in twins showed a high concordance rate for ADHD in identical twins, and a zero concordance rate for non-identical twins, which suggests that non-identical twins are no more likely to both have ADHD than, say, a brother and sister of different ages. Don't see why they couldn't both have ADHD though, as two non-twin siblings might both have ADHD.



That makes sense, as fraternal twins result when a mother ovulates two separate eggs, and both get fertilized. I would suspect that the odds of shared traits are the same as in any set of two siblings.


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