Bartels, Meike, Benjamin, David J., Cesarini, David, De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel, Johannesson, Magnus, Koellinger, Philipp D., Krueger, Robert F., Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Pedersen, Nancy L., Rietveld, Cornelius A. and Tiemeier, Henning (2013) Molecular genetics and subjective well-being. CEP Discussion Papers (CEPDP1225). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.
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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, while the common narrow heritability is not large, the polymorphisms that contribute to it could feasibly be discovered with a sufficiently large sample of individuals.
| Item Type: | Monograph (Discussion Paper) |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?... |
| Additional Information: | © 2013 The Authors |
| Divisions: | Centre for Economic Performance |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Aug 2013 11:35 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Sep 2024 20:24 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/51566 |
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