title: Genetics of wellbeing and its components satisfaction with life, happiness, and quality of life: a review and meta-analysis of heritability studies.
abstract: Wellbeing is a major topic of research across several disciplines, reflecting the increasing recognition of its strong value across major domains in life. Previous twin-family studies have revealed that individual differences in wellbeing are accounted for by both genetic as well as environmental factors. A systematic literature search identified 30 twin-family studies on wellbeing or a related measure such as satisfaction with life or happiness. Review of these studies showed considerable variation in heritability estimates (ranging from 0 to 64 %), which makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions regarding the genetic influences on wellbeing. For overall wellbeing twelve heritability estimates, from 10 independent studies, were meta-analyzed by computing a sample size weighted average heritability. Ten heritability estimates, derived from 9 independent samples, were used for the meta-analysis of satisfaction with life. The weighted average heritability of wellbeing, based on a sample size of 55,974 individuals, was 36 % (34-38), while the weighted average heritability for satisfaction with life was 32 % (29-35) (n = 47,750). With this result a more robust estimate of the relative influence of genetic effects on wellbeing is provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, Netherlands Twin Register, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, m.bartels@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Meike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartels
mesh_terms: D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008967:Molecular Biology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D018401:Sample Size; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018433:Twin Studies as Topic; D014427:Twins