Year: 2013
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Subjective well-being (SWB) is a major topic of research across the social sciences. Twin and family studies have found that genetic factors may account for as much as 30-40% of the variance in SWB. Here, we study genetic contributions to SWB in a pooled sample of ≈ 11,500 unrelated, comprehensively-genotyped Swedish and Dutch individuals. We apply a recently developed method to estimate "common narrow heritability": the fraction of variance in SWB that can be explained by the cumulative additive effects of genetic polymorphisms that are common in the population. Our estimates are 5-10% for single-question survey measures of SWB, and 12-18% after correction for measurement error in the SWB measures. Our results suggest guarded optimism about the prospects of using genetic data in SWB research because, although the common narrow heritability is not large, the polymorphisms that contribute to it could feasibly be discovered with a sufficiently large sample of individuals.
Institutions: Erasmus University Rotterdam, New York University, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Cornell University, University College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, Erasmus MC, Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institutet, University of Minnesota, Amsterdam Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, University of Michigan, European Commission, Stiftelsen för Strategisk Forskning, ZonMw, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap, Erasmus Medisch Centrum, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Vetenskapsrådet, National Institutes of Health, Economic and Social Research Council, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Awards: G1077033501, G1151563582, G1495020029, G16286648, The genetic architecture of cardiovascular disease and associated conditions: Genome-wide association studies and beyond, G2109279595, Centre for Economic Performance 2010-2015, Interstitial Cystitis in Swedish Twins, G2861369480, G2973790809, G300339986, G3207356259, G3540777072, G3839646794, G393177772, G3995246868, G4104599821, Hjärt-kärlsjukdomars genetiska arkitektur, G431860981, European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology, Subjective Well-Being Over The Life Course, NBER Training Program in Aging and Health Economics, G5457026379, G5468713758, G5702163051, G6091493096, G6994344002, G83699068, G8506930532, Using the Dynamics of Subjective Well-Being to Measure the Import of Events, G890705022, G8927421343, Understanding and Improving Healthcare Decision-Making and Outcomes for People Living with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias, NBER Center for Aging and Health Research
OpenAlex ID: W2149795222