ABSTRACT
Twins face many challenges as they grow through adolescence and adulthood. The development of individual identity always occurs alongside the twin-identity. Struggles to develop a strong individual identity can lead to estrangement between twins later in life. Although the roots of estrangement between twins are always connected to early life experience, twins vary greatly in how and when they come to articulate their relationship as estranged or troubled. In many cases, twins accept the difficulties they experience in their relationship as normal, or “just the way things are.” Relationships with romantic others or marriage partners often bring these struggles to the surface. An examination the real-life experiences of five twins provides the basis for an analysis of the relational matrices that emerge when twins become estranged. The self/other–same/different matrix is shown to function differently for twins and singletons. The distinction between intrapersonal and interpersonal communication is particularly salient in the formation of these relational matrices.
