Twins Early Development Study (TEDS): A genetically sensitive investigation of mental health outcomes in the mid‐twenties

Abstract

Abstract The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is a longitudinal study following a cohort of twins born 1994–1996 in England and Wales. Of the 13,759 families who originally consented to take part, over 10,000 families remain enrolled in the study. The current focus of TEDS is on mental health in the mid‐twenties. Making use of over 25 years of genetically sensitive data, TEDS is uniquely placed to explore the longitudinal genetic and environmental influences on common mental health disorders in early adulthood. This paper outlines recent data collection efforts supporting this work, including a cohort‐wide mental health assessment at age 26 and a multi‐phase Covid‐19 study. It will also provide an update on data linkage efforts and the Children of TEDS (CoTEDS) project.

Keywords

• behavioural genetics
• longitudinal studies
• mental health
• TEDS
• twins