Identical Twins & Oppositional Defiance Disorder

Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) display a pattern of behavior that is argumentative, hostile and uncooperative. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, all children show oppositional behavior at some point during their development. However, the behavior of children with ODD is so frequent and consistent that it interferes with a child's daily life. Parents with identical twins face an even bigger struggle, as a genetic component of the disorder often leads both children to have ODD.

Symptoms

• Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder will often show a disregard for rules and refuse to comply with requests from teachers or parents. They tend to be more interested in being right or proving other people wrong than in actually getting what they want. As described by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, other symptoms of ODD may include frequent temper tantrums, mean and hateful outbursts, not admitting fault for mistakes, blaming others, revenge seeking, deliberately annoying others, and being touchy and easily upset.

Identical Twins

• Identical twins, also called monozygotic twins, come from one fertilized egg that splits and develops into two separate fetuses. They share the same set of genes, look exactly alike and are the same sex.This unique circumstance allows twins to be extremely helpful in studies testing the effects of genes and the environment on everything from propensity to a given disease, child development or even psychic abilities.

Twin Studies

• A group of U.S. and Dutch researchers used twin studies to test the contribution of genetics in Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Dr. James J. Hudziak and his colleagues studied the behavior of 7-year-old twins in the Netherlands and found that there is more than what he calls, "the public misconception of poor parenting" behind ODD. The study looked at the effects of biology and the environment and found that genetic factors accounted for 55 percent of the influence on oppositional behavior. The oppositional behavior of identical twins matched each other 71 percent of the time compared to 41 percent for fraternal twins.

Conduct Disorder

• The U.S. Surgeon General reports that twin studies show a genetic factor involved in another disruptive condition called conduct disorder. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry cautions that Oppositional Defiant Disorder is sometimes a precursor to conduct disorder. Conduct disorder takes the defiant and disobedient behavior of ODD to a much more serious and severe level. Some of the symptoms of conduct disorder are fighting, bullying, destroying property, setting fires or being cruel to people or animals, or both.

Support

• Parents of twins are doubly challenged because having even one child with ODD can be daunting. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry offers the following tips for parents: always build on the positives, avoid power struggles, take a time out if things get heated and set reasonable, age-appropriate limits and be consistent with consequences.