Not All Twins Are Alike - by Barbara Klein (Hardcover)

About the Book

Even twins are unique. Most people idealize twins, fantasizing a close, perpetually loving relationship. Yet Klein, herself an identical twin, demonstrates that twins have complicated and intense relationships that range from over-identification or excessive closeness to profound estrangement and conflict. Most twins who are raised as individuals deal with the significant emotional pain of separation in adolescence or young adulthood, yet as mature adults can come to love and respect each other as individuals.

As Klein makes clear, the parenting that twins receive as infants and young children affects the relationships that they have with one another and with the world they choose to function in. Because parenting is a critical determinant of psychological well-being, it should be treated as a serious but manageable challenge. This book is a must-read for twins, their parents, and scholars, students, and other researchers and professionals dealing with mental health and child development.

Book Synopsis

Even twins are unique. Most people idealize twins, fantasizing a close, perpetually loving relationship. Yet Klein, herself an identical twin, demonstrates that twins have complicated and intense relationships that range from over-identification or excessive closeness to profound estrangement and conflict. Most twins who are raised as individuals deal with the significant emotional pain of separation in adolescence or young adulthood, yet as mature adults can come to love and respect each other as individuals.

As Klein makes clear, the parenting that twins receive as infants and young children affects the relationships that they have with one another and with the world they choose to function in. Because parenting is a critical determinant of psychological well-being, it should be treated as a serious but manageable challenge. This book is a must-read for twins, their parents, and scholars, students, and other researchers and professionals dealing with mental health and child development.

Review Quotes

"The twin patterns and the conclusions that [Klein] delineates and then supports through case histories are informative, fascinating, illuminating. . . . [This book] will help you to understand what's underneath the . . . surface similarities and differences in the twin patterns whom she studied to reveal the deeper emotional and intellectual issues that twins have to confront and make peace with."-Muriel Kessler, L.C.S.W., Bc.D.

About the Author

BARBARA SCHAVE KLEIN has worked in the fields of child development and child psychology for more than 30 years. She is the author or co-author of five previous books. She is also an identical twin.