Is "happiness" or a "sense of well being" genetically based?

Angela

Elite member
Messages
21,823
Reaction score
12,327
Points
113
Ethnic group
Italian
The answer is yes, it's heritable to some degree, which is no surprise to me.

I know people who are virtually always happy, when, from my subjective viewpoint it's totally unwarranted. :) Conversely, people are often very depressed for not very good reasons, imo.

See:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0320-8

"We introduce two novel methods for multivariate genome-wide-association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of related traits that correct for sample overlap. A broad range of simulation scenarios supports the added value of our multivariate methods relative to univariate GWAMA. We applied the novel methods to life satisfaction, positive affect, neuroticism, and depressive symptoms, collectively referred to as the well-being spectrum (Nobs = 2,370,390), and found 304 significant independent signals. Our multivariate approaches resulted in a 26% increase in the number of independent signals relative to the four univariate GWAMAs and in an ~57% increase in the predictive power of polygenic risk scores. Supporting transcriptome- and methylome-wide analyses (TWAS and MWAS, respectively) uncovered an additional 17 and 75 independent loci, respectively. Bioinformatic analyses, based on gene expression in brain tissues and cells, showed that genes differentially expressed in the subiculum and GABAergic interneurons are enriched in their effect on the well-being spectrum."
 
Search for
"Genome-wide association analyses identify 44 risk variants and refine the genetic architecture of major depression."
(I'm not allowed to post links yet)

It presents a less convoluted approach to the same question. It's, frankly, a better study.
 
The answer is yes, it's heritable to some degree, which is no surprise to me.

I know people who are virtually always happy, when, from my subjective viewpoint it's totally unwarranted. :) Conversely, people are often very depressed for not very good reasons, imo.

See:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0320-8

"We introduce two novel methods for multivariate genome-wide-association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of related traits that correct for sample overlap. A broad range of simulation scenarios supports the added value of our multivariate methods relative to univariate GWAMA. We applied the novel methods to life satisfaction, positive affect, neuroticism, and depressive symptoms, collectively referred to as the well-being spectrum (Nobs = 2,370,390), and found 304 significant independent signals. Our multivariate approaches resulted in a 26% increase in the number of independent signals relative to the four univariate GWAMAs and in an ~57% increase in the predictive power of polygenic risk scores. Supporting transcriptome- and methylome-wide analyses (TWAS and MWAS, respectively) uncovered an additional 17 and 75 independent loci, respectively. Bioinformatic analyses, based on gene expression in brain tissues and cells, showed that genes differentially expressed in the subiculum and GABAergic interneurons are enriched in their effect on the well-being spectrum."

Search for
"Genome-wide association analyses identify 44 risk variants and refine the genetic architecture of major depression."
(I'm not allowed to post links yet)

It presents a less convoluted approach to the same question. It's, frankly, a better study.


This one?

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0090-3
 
Yes, exactly. It's a very interesting paper on the subject. The OP paper is also good, but I found this one easier to understand. Thanks for providing link. There should be a free version on bioarxiv as well.
 

This thread has been viewed 6990 times.

Back
Top