title: Extraversion mediates the relationship between structural variations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and social well-being.
abstract: Social well-being reflects the appraisal of one's circumstance and functioning in society, which is crucial for individuals' mental and physical health. However, little is known about the neural processes associated with social well-being. In this study, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify the brain regions underlying individual differences in social well-being, as measured by the Social Well-being Scale (SWBS), in a large sample of young healthy adults. We found that social well-being was negatively correlated with gray matter volume in left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (mid-DLPFC) that is implicated in executive functioning, emotional regulation and social reasoning. The results remained significant even after controlling for the effect of socioeconomic status. Furthermore, although basic personality factors such as neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness (as measured by the NEO Personality Inventory) all contributed to social well-being, only extraversion acted as a mediational mechanism underlying the association between the left mid-DLPFC volume and social well-being. Together, our findings provide the first evidence for the structural basis of individual differences in social well-being, and suggest that the personality trait of extraversion might play an important role in the acquisition and process of social well-being.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Siyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, China.
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, China.
authors.forename: Yiying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: liujia@bnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D003242:Conscience; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D000075384:Neuroticism; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Extraversion; Prefrontal cortex; Social well-being; Voxel-based morphometry