Genetic and environmental influences on personality in adult Russian twins

The present study explored genetic and environmental contributions to perso nality in a sample of twins participating in the Adult Russian Twin Study ( ARTS). Subjects included 79 monozygotic (MZ) and 51 dizygotic (DZ) twin-pai rs residing in the metropolitan Moscow area, Russia (mean age 42.2 years). Twins completed self-report questionnaires assessing the personality dimens ions of neuroticism, extraversion, monotony avoidance, and impulsivity. For all four dimensions, model-fitting analyses yielded estimates of heritabil ity consistent with previous behavioural genetic findings (h(2) ranging fro m .49 to .59). Also consistent with previous research is the finding that s hared environmental variance is negligible for each dimension. These result s suggest that the factors that influence individual differences in persona lity in the Russian culture do not substantially differ from those that inf luence personality in more Western cultures.