Abstract
Some life events appear heritable due to the genetic influence on related behaviours. Shared genetic influence between negative behaviours and negative life events has previously been established. This study investigated whether subjective wellbeing and positive life events were genetically associated. Participants in the Twins Early Development Study (aged 16.32 0.68 years) completed subjective wellbeing and life events assessments via two separate studies (overlapping N for wellbeing and life events measures ranged from 3,527-9,350). We conducted bivariate twin models between both positive and negative life events with subjective wellbeing and related positive psychological traits including subjective happiness, life satisfaction, optimism, hopefulness and gratitude measured at 16 years. Results suggested the heritability of life events can partially be explained by shared genetic influences with the wellbeing indicators. Wellbeing traits were positively genetically correlated with positive life events and negatively correlated with negative life events (except curiosity where there was no correlation). Those positive traits that drive behaviour (grit and ambition) showed the highest genetic correlation with life events, whereas the reflective trait gratitude was less correlated. This suggests gene-environment correlations might explain the observed genetic association between life events and wellbeing. Inheriting propensity for positive traits might cause you to seek environments that lead to positive life events and avoid environments which make negative life events more likely.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1119-1127 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 9 |
Early online date | 16 May 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2017 |
Keywords
- Life events
- Subjective well-being
- Bivariate twin design
- Gene-environment correlation
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Genetic and environmental correlations between subjective wellbeing and experience of life events in adolescence'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
-
Professor Claire M A Haworth
- School of Psychological Science - Professor of Behavioural Genetics
- Bristol Population Health Science Institute
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit
- Bristol Neuroscience
Person: Academic , Member