title: Behavioral problems among twins.
abstract: Despite the frequency of multiple births, little information is available to assist parents and health professionals in the identification and management of behavior problems in multiple-birth siblings. Three case reports are presented that describe quarreling, aggression, and feeding problems among twins. To develop intervention strategies most appropriate for the problem behavior, it is important to determine whether (1) parents are able to effectively implement the intervention strategy, (2) behavior is isolated to one sibling, and (3) different reasons are responsible for similar behavior in siblings. Structured observations were used to determine whether the undesired behavior occurred to escape nonpreferred activities, gain access to preferred activities, or obtain parental attention. The cases provide a framework to facilitate the identification and management of common behavior problems occurring among multiple-birth siblings.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
authors.forename: C I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Dungy
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wacker
mesh_terms: D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012801:Sibling Relations; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology*