Essay Sample on Twin and Adoption Studies and Child's Birth Defect

Twin and Adoption Studies

Certain Individual behaviors and character result from a combination of both external and internal variables. Studies have been done to find out precisely what shapes one's behavior and character between the environment and genetic makeup. The twin and adoption designs help to tease apart the impact of the environment and genes. Twin studies involve comparison of patterns in behavior between fraternal and identical twins. Adoption studies require comparison of whether an adopted child is more similar to the adoptive parents or their biological parents concerning conduct.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Advantages

Twin studies are useful in determining if certain environmental conditions lead to certain illnesses. If a particular disorder is common in both the monozygotic and the dizygotic, then it is easy to know the causative agent of the disorder, the genes. If the defect is in dizygotic twins, then it can be concluded the causative agent is the environment and not the genes. Twins also provide essential data which helps in identifying causes of conditions like stress. In this way, psychologists can help victims prevent depression as they can quickly identify people who are vulnerable to such situations.

Disadvantages

One major disadvantage is that conclusions are made based on the data gotten from twins, hence generalizing the results. A study on a small portion of twins is used to make the findings on a whole society. The environment in the womb is different for twins as opposed to children conceived on a single birth basis. This difference may lead to kids getting exposure to different hormonal levels. The conditions in which the twins get exposed to may also be different leading to different traits in each character. Monozygotic twins reared together to share so many experiences as opposed to dizygotic who may not be exposed to similar experiences.

Twin and adoption approach does not give an exact reason why people show a particular behavior. People in a family share both environment and genes making it hard to tell what exactly contributes to a specific characteristic.

A child may change his or her behavior as a result of being given up for adoption. Sometimes the problem of selective placement is common under adoption studies. Children end up acquiring adoption to parents with a similar background to their birth parents.

Advance Knowledge of a Child's Birth Defect

Prenatal testing of genetic defects is a service provided to future parents by doctors. This testing determines whether or not parents are carriers of genes associated with some abnormalities. For parents thought to have a history of genetically related problems, screening is done. Congenital disabilities have been found to cause mortality and disability in infants significantly. These defects are abnormalities in the body functioning of an infant commonly detected during birth. Prenatal detection takes place during the prenatal visits to health clinics. Congenital disabilities affect almost 1% of the births done in one year. The advantages and disadvantages of early detection depend on both the efficiency of the results from tests and the social factors like religion and culture.

Advantages

Helps in reducing mortality rates. Early detection of a defect enables doctors to treat the condition in time. Early detection of a heart defect makes the doctors offer treatment at birth. Heart problems can cause a sudden deprivation of oxygen to an infant during delivery. Prenatal screening prevents incidences where doctors get caught by surprise. Detection of problems like Spina bifida in time helps doctors to fix it surgically before birth. Early detection prevents further complications for the child in the future.

Early detection also helps future parents in making a critical decision on whether to continue with the pregnancy or terminate it depending on the magnitude of the defect. Majority of parents who learn to have a defective fetus opt to abort. The abortion saves them future expenses as some complications are expensive to control after birth.

Prenatal detection helps future parents to get psychologically prepared. Preparations regarding future care of the genetically defective children are timely. Plans for dealing with the children are put into place for proper nurturing.

Disadvantages

Early detection of defects leads to Psychological stress for the parents. Parents get anxious about the possible defects when going through tests. Its every parent's wish to have a healthy baby. Knowledge of a defective fetus may be traumatic especially to young parents. Some communities also believe that congenital disabilities arise from lousy omen and witchcraft. These superstitions lead to stigmatization.

Question on ethics also rises upon decisions made after prenatal detection. When parents end up making the abortion decision, the community views this as a crime against an innocent child. Some communities also see abortion as a taboo, and this complicates the whole arrangement. It is also against some religion to carry out abortion.

Prenatal tests are expensive to conduct. Some corrections of the defects require surgery. Surgery involves different and specialized physicians, and in the long run, this ends up being too expensive. Many insurance companies do not cover the unborn, and this makes the burden to lie solely on parents.

Radiological tests can also expose the parents to dangerous electromagnetic waves. Some radio waves have been found to cause some genetic complications upon repeated exposure.