title: Estimating the correlation among siblings.
abstract: Beginning with Galton, various authors have proposed non-iterative estimators of the correlation coefficient that measure the degree of similarity among siblings. However, these estimators lose efficiency appreciably for certain ranges of values of the correlation coefficient. An estimator formed by an algebraic combination of two non-iterative estimators based on Smith (1957) is shown by simulation to be nearly fully efficient for the full range of values of the coefficient. A new estimator given by the best linear combination of these estimators offers a practical improvement for large values of the coefficient. The discussion concludes with an example.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Royal Roads Military College, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Keen
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009679:Nuclear Family; D010641:Phenotype