Suggestions with respect to DNA tests used for fun geneaological reasons

[dailybuck777]

Off Topic (For some reason can never edit thread title)

I have a 12-year-old girl (1/2 Chinese, 1/4 Italian, 1/4 English by ethnicity) and a 17-year-old son (same as sister) and I myself, the father, am 1/2 Italian and 1/2 English. (Father's parents were from Southern Italy, mother's parents were from England). Mother of children, deceased, was Chinese from Hubei province.

My children would like to have a DNA test for fun and so would I. I am concerned about the privacy aspects of this, but at least Ancestry.com says it will return all of my information if I ask. I understand that there are four types of tests. Y (males), X (from mother), autosomal and mitochondrial. Am thinking that it might make sense to mix and match some of the tests.

If anyone with experience or scientific knowledge of genetics wants to make suggestions, I would be happy to hear them.

 

[Ranger Dan]

I did ancestry a few years ago and 23andme me just this year. I’m adopted at birth and appreciated the health screening that 23andme provided. Neither gave as much detail as I was hoping, but I guess they are improving all the time.

 

[ClarkstonMark]

couplee threads a few weeks ago.

https://bwi.forums.rivals.com/threads/has-anyone-used-23andme-dna-tests.209092/

https://bwi.forums.rivals.com/threads/has-anyone-done-the-ancestry-dna.210766/#post-3521014 (post 3 has links to a few other threads discussing topic)

 

[dailybuck777]

couplee threads a few weeks ago.

https://bwi.forums.rivals.com/threads/has-anyone-used-23andme-dna-tests.209092/

https://bwi.forums.rivals.com/threads/has-anyone-done-the-ancestry-dna.210766/#post-3521014 (post 3 has links to a few other threads discussing topic)

Thanks a lot. Didn't realize that will check them out.

 

[manatree]

I've been looking around a bit and it seems that some companies might be better for certain ethnic make ups based on the particular genetic data they have access to for comparison. For example, Living DNA seems to be a better choice for those with Irish or British bloodlines.

Also, keep in mind that accuracy and precision are two different things. It seems that people are most disappointed at the precision of the results, probably due to unreasonable expectations.

I'm trying to talk my parents into letting me pay to have their DNA run rather than mine. At the moment, I'm leaning towards Family Tree DNA or 23AndMe first as it looks like they are the only ones offering Y-DNA and mtDNA tests which are needed in order to hone in on haplogroups.


An interesting bit that I've come across recently:

Do Siblings Have the Same DNA?
Why siblings can have the same ancestors, but different ethnicity estimates