NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Twins who share a classroom will do just as well academically as twins placed in separate classes, new research shows.
The findings, the study's authors say, show that blanket recommendations on whether to keep twins together in school or separate them are not a good idea. "Classroom placement of twins should be based on each family's needs individually, in consultation with teachers, parents, and the children themselves," Dr. Tinca Polderman of VU University in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and her colleagues conclude.
The question of whether or not twins should be taught together has long been a "dilemma," the researchers note, which is particularly important to address giving the continuing increase in multiple births.
So far, just three studies have looked at the effects of separation in primary school among twins, the researchers point out in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Two studies found separated twins were at greater risk of psychological problems like depression and anxiety, although the effects were small.
To better understand the benefits and drawbacks of classroom sharing, the researchers looked at 839 identical and 1,164 fraternal twin pairs who were followed from age 3 up until age 12.
Seventy-two percent had shared a classroom, 19 percent were usually in "parallel" classes, meaning they attended the same school but were in different classes; and 9 percent had "partly" shared a classroom. Sixteen percent of the study participants had changed from shared to parallel classes (or vice versa) at some point during primary school.
Once the researchers accounted for socioeconomic status (twins from less wealthy families were more likely to share a class) and externalizing problems such as aggressive behavior (siblings with these issues were more likely to be separated from one another), they found no effect of classroom sharing on children's scores on a standardized test typically given to Dutch children in eighth grade, at age 12.
It's still not clear, Polderman and her team note, whether sharing a classroom affects twins' social development. Nevertheless, the researchers add, there is no reason to separate twins during the primary school years based on academic concerns.
"The choice of separation should be made by teachers, parents and their twin children, based on individual characteristics for a twin pair," they conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, December 2009.
