The study reveals that the genetic basis for happiness is consistent across various age groups and ancestral backgrounds, influencing well-being measures like confidence and calmness. It also finds that this genetic predisposition affects specific brain structures related to psychological and cognitive health.
By Dr. Priyom Bose, Ph.D.Oct 15 2023Reviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc. Happiness is a positive emotional state that influences various clinical outcomes, including depression.
Study: Consistent effects of the genetics of happiness across the lifespan and ancestries in multiple cohorts. Image Credit: Ground Picture / Shutterstock.com Each cohort comprised specific age groups. To this end, the ABCD cohort included children between nine and 11 years of age, the Add Health cohort comprised individuals between 25 and 35 years of age, and the U.K. Biobank comprised individuals between 40 and 70 years of age.
LDpred-inf polygenic scores of a general happiness measure were constructed based on the ABCD and Add Health cohorts. The association between genetic scores for happiness and brain structure was determined using ABCD and U.K. Biobank data. The MRI analyses indicated that only some regions of the brain are associated with genetic predispositions for happiness; however, this prevalence could be underestimated due to known biases present within the MRI subsample.
In the ABCD cohort, an association between the white subsample and volumes of the left ventral pallidum was observed. A similar association with the nucleus accumbens was not observed in the ABCD cohort; however, a marginal association was identified in the U.K. Biobank analysis.