Subjective well-being revisited: what's in a genetic correlation?

SWB is a multidimensional construct conceptually rooted in two broad domains encompassing hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Behavioral genetic studies provide good evidence for a common genetic factor underlying SWB and... [ view full abstract ]

SWB is a multidimensional construct conceptually rooted in two broad domains encompassing hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Behavioral genetic studies provide good evidence for a common genetic factor underlying SWB and its component traits^1,2.  Functional genomic studies suggest differential transcriptional profiles between some components of SWB, with healthier patterns of gene expression associated with eudaimonia³. However, these findings have been met with strong criticism, partly because the high correlation between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being casts improbability on the prospect of distinct gene regulatory profiles⁴. To gain further insight into this we employ multivariate modeling to explore the genetic covariance structure across three dimensions of SWB. 

The sample is based on 5442 Norwegian twins, aged 40-80, who participated in a study on Social Factors and Health. Self-reports of well-being were assessed using the short form of the Mental Health Continuum (MHC-SF). The three sub-scales of the MHC-SF cover hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions and include psychological, social, and emotional well-being.  A common pathway model best described the covariance structure between the sub-scales, and revealed sex differences in the variance composition with C effects for females only. Phenotypic correlations between the subscales ranged from 0.58 to 0.70. Although genetic correlations were also sizeable (0.63 to 0.72), there are significant amounts of trait-specific genetic effects and the correlational relationships between the subscales are, largely, explained by environmental factors. The picture emerging of the underlying genetic effects across these three components of SWB indicates only partial overlap in the sets of genes affecting trait variation and does not preclude the possibility of differential transcriptional profiles.

¹Bartels M, Boomsma DI. Born to be happy? The etiology of subjective well-being.   Behav Genet 2009 ;39(6):605-15.

²Keyes CL, Myers JM, Kendler KS. The structure of the genetic and environmental influences on mental well-being. Public Health. 2010 ;100(12):2379-84.

³Fredrickson BL, Grewen KM, Algoe SB, Firestine AM, Arevalo JM, Ma J, Cole SW. Psychological well-being and the human conserved transcriptional response to adversity. PLoS One. 2015;10(3):e0121839.

⁴Coyne JC. Highly correlated hedonic and eudaimonic well-being thwart genomic analysis.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013;110(45):E4183.