title: Happiness and health: environmental and genetic contributions to the relationship between subjective well-being, perceived health, and somatic illness.
abstract: The aim was to identify genetic and environmental influences on the covariances between subjective well-being (SWB), perceived health, and somatic illness. Analyses were based on 6576 Norwegian twins aged 18-31. Heritabilities ranged from .24 to.66. SWB correlated .50 with perceived health, -.25 with musculoskeletal pain, and -.07 with allergy. Common genetic factors accounted for 45%-60% of associations. SWB and perceived health was to a high extent influenced by the same genes (r(g)=.72 and.82 for males and females, respectively). For SWB and musculoskeletal pain, r-sub(g) =-.29 and -.42 for males and females, respectively. Effects were partly sex specific. Environmental factors shared by twins did not affect the covariances. Results support a differentiated view of SWB-health relations, and imply that both genes and environment play important roles in the associations between well-being and health.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. espen.roysamb@psykologi.uio.no
authors.forename: Espen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Røysamb
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tambs
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reichborn-Kjennerud
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Neale
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D010146:Pain / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D010641:Phenotype; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology