;

Into the Archive - The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS)

30 October 2025

Population health is a way to understand health outcomes and disparities in a group of people. It examines how social, economic, and environmental factors impact health and identifies interventions or policies to improve health for all. Here at King’s, experts have been studying population health for over half a century. ‘Into the Archive’ aims to amplify experts, past and present, at King’s who have worked to revolutionise health and healthcare.

The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) By Professors Plomin and Eley

Starting in 1994, King’s researchers followed over 13,000 pairs of twins born in at England and Wales throughout their childhood and adolescence.

The study looked at how genes and environment play a role in shaping who we are. Data were collected from the twins, parents, teachers and the UK National Pupil Database to consider environmental and individual factors. The studies also looked at 10,000 individuals (including 3000+ twins) to determine how genes affect abilities, behaviours and mental health.

The study has contributed to over 400 scientific publications, with major impact in education and public policies. One finding showed that genetics not only influence achievement but also influences the choice of academic subjects. Another publication showed that DNA can be used to predict educational achievements.

"TEDS have grown to be an interdisciplinary, multi-institutes collaboration and it is going strong with over 10,000 families still engaged. It has expanded to other studies such as The Children of TEDS to see whether behaviours and traits are passed down through generations and E-Risk (TEDS birth cohort 1994-1995) to investigate how specific environmental risk factors contribute to children’s disruptive behaviours. It is the largest continuous population-based twin study in the world.”– Professor Matthew Hotopf CBE, Executive Dean of Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and Co-director of King’s Population Health Institute