Genetic Epidemiology, Translational Neurogenomics, Psychiatric Genetics and Statistical Genetics Laboratories investigate the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems.
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PMID
11665339
TITLE
Predictors of non-response to a questionnaire survey of a volunteer twin panel: findings from the Australian 1989 twin cohort.
ABSTRACT
Questionnaire surveys, while more economical, typically achieve poorer response rates than interview surveys. We used data from a national volunteer cohort of young adult twins, who were scheduled for assessment by questionnaire in 1989 and by interview in 1996-2000, to identify predictors of questionnaire non-response. Out of a total of 8536 twins, 5058 completed the questionnaire survey (59% response rate), and 6255 completed a telephone interview survey conducted a decade later (73% response rate). Multinomial logit models were fitted to the interview data to identify socioeconomic, psychiatric and health behavior correlates of non-response in the earlier questionnaire survey. Male gender, education below University level, and being a dizygotic rather than monozygotic twin, all predicted reduced likelihood of participating in the questionnaire survey. Associations between questionnaire response status and psychiatric history and health behavior variables were modest, with history of alcohol dependence and childhood conduct disorder predicting decreased probability of returning a questionnaire, and history of smoking and heavy drinking more weakly associated with non-response. Body-mass index showed no association with questionnaire non-response. Despite a poor response rate to the self-report questionnaire survey, we found only limited sampling biases for most variables. While not appropriate for studies where socioeconomic variables are critical, it appears that survey by questionnaire, with questionnaire administration by telephone to non-responders, will represent a viable strategy for gene-mapping studies requiring that large numbers of relatives be screened.
DATE PUBLISHED
2001 Apr
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
pubmed 2001/10/23 10:00
medline 2002/01/05 10:01
entrez 2001/10/23 10:00
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Heath AC Heath A C AC Missouri Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 40 N. Kingshighway, Suite One, St Louis, MO 63108, USA.
Howells W Howells W W
Kirk KM Kirk K M KM
Madden PA Madden P A PA
Bucholz KK Bucholz K K KK
Nelson EC Nelson E C EC
Slutske WS Slutske W S WS
Statham DJ Statham D J DJ
Martin NG Martin N G NG
INVESTIGATORS
JOURNAL
VOLUME: 4
ISSUE: 2
TITLE: Twin research : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies
ISOABBREVIATION: Twin Res
YEAR: 2001
MONTH: Apr
DAY:
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Print
ISSN: 1369-0523
ISSNTYPE: Print
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Twin Res
COUNTRY: Australia
ISSNLINKING: 1369-0523
NLMUNIQUEID: 9815819
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
Comparative Study
Evaluation Studies
Journal Article
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
GRANTS
GRANTID AGENCY COUNTRY
AA07728 NIAAA NIH HHS United States
AA10249 NIAAA NIH HHS United States
AA11998 NIAAA NIH HHS United States
DA12854 NIDA NIH HHS United States
GENERAL NOTE
KEYWORDS
MESH HEADINGS
DESCRIPTORNAME QUALIFIERNAME
Adult
Australia
Cohort Studies
Female
Health Behavior
Humans
Interviews as Topic utilization
Life Style utilization
Logistic Models utilization
Male utilization
Questionnaires utilization
Selection Bias utilization
Socioeconomic Factors utilization
Twins psychology
SUPPLEMENTARY MESH
GENE SYMBOLS
CHEMICALS
OTHER ID's