Molecular genetics and subjective well-being
Open accessAbstract
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.
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A SNP heritability of 12-18% for wellbeing is reported, reflecting additive genetic effects.
“In this study a SNP heritability of 12–18 % is reported, reflecting additive genetic effects.”
From Genetics of Wellbeing and Its Components Satisfaction with Life, Happiness, and Quality of Life: A Review and Meta-analysis of Heritability Studies (2015) · cites this paper as Rietveld et al. 2013
Molecular genetic evidence provides indirect evidence for the presence of non-additive genetic effects in wellbeing.
“Some indirect evidence for the presence of non-additive genetic effects in wellbeing is provided by the recent finding of molecular genetic evidence for wellbeing (Rietveld et al. 2013).”
From Genetics of Wellbeing and Its Components Satisfaction with Life, Happiness, and Quality of Life: A Review and Meta-analysis of Heritability Studies (2015) · cites this paper as Rietveld et al. 2013
The broad-sense heritability estimate increases to 12-18% after correction for measurement error in the wellbeing measures.
“This estimate increases to 12–18 % after correction for measurement error in the wellbeing measures.”
From Genetics of Wellbeing and Its Components Satisfaction with Life, Happiness, and Quality of Life: A Review and Meta-analysis of Heritability Studies (2015) · cites this paper as Rietveld et al. 2013
Based on a pooled sample of approximately 11,500 unrelated, comprehensively genotyped Swedish and Dutch individuals, broad-sense heritability of 5-10% is found for single-question survey measures of wellbeing.
“Based on a pooled sample of ≈11,500 unrelated, comprehensively-genotyped Swedish and Dutch individuals, estimates of broad-sense heritability of 5–10 % for single-question survey measures of wellbeing is found.”
From Genetics of Wellbeing and Its Components Satisfaction with Life, Happiness, and Quality of Life: A Review and Meta-analysis of Heritability Studies (2015) · cites this paper as Rietveld et al. 2013
A recent paper shows the first evidence for the heritability of wellbeing derived directly from molecular genetic data.
“This is also reinforced by a recent paper that shows the first evidence for the heritability of wellbeing derived directly from molecular genetic data (Rietveld et al. 2013).”
From Genetics of Wellbeing and Its Components Satisfaction with Life, Happiness, and Quality of Life: A Review and Meta-analysis of Heritability Studies (2015) · cites this paper as Rietveld et al. 2013
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- Authors
- Rietveld, C. A., Cesarini, D., Benjamin, D. J., Koellinger, P. D., De Neve, J.-E., Tiemeier, H., Johannesson, M., Magnusson, P. K. E., Pedersen, N. L., Krueger, R. F., & Bartels, M.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
- New York University (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- School of Public Policy, Department of Political Science, University College London, London WC1H 9QU, United Kingdom;
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- Stockholm School of Economics (SE)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Amsterdam Public Health (NL)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2013-05-24
- Volume
- 110
- Issue
- 24
- Pages
- 9692-9697
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3683731
- OpenAlex
- W2149795222
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 8.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (submittedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (FP7/2007-2013)
- University of Michigan
- European Commission (QLG2-CT-2002-01254, 2007–2013, FP7 2007-2013, 201413, FP7/2007, 01254, 014-93-015)
- Stiftelsen för Strategisk Forskning (ICA08-0047)
- ZonMw (050-060-810)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (FP7/2007-2013)
- Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap
- Erasmus Medisch Centrum (050-060-810, 014-93-015)
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO 480‐05‐003, 050.060.810, 480- 05-003, FP7 2007-2013, 014-93-015, 911-03-012, 175.010.2005.011)
- Vetenskapsrådet (2009-02298, FP7/2007-2013, M-2005-1112)
- National Institutes of Health (FP7/2007-2013, DK U01-066134, QLG2-CT-2002-01254)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/H02123X/1)
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG040640, T32AG000186, AG005842, R01AG040787, P01AG005842, P30AG012810)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (U01DK066134, DK U01‐066134)
- Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- subjective well-being, heritability, genetic polymorphism, additive genetic effects, measurement error correction, twin and family studies
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Gene Frequency, Genotype, Happiness, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Netherlands, Personal Satisfaction, Surveys and Questionnaires, Registries, Sweden, Twins, Dizygotic, Twins, Monozygotic, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
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