| Title: | Consistent effects of the genetics of happiness across the lifespan and ancestries in multiple cohorts |
| Journal: | Scientific Reports |
| Published: | 12 Oct 2023 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37828061/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43193-9 |
| URL: | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-43193-9.pdf |
Publication 9391
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Abstract
Happiness is a fundamental human affective trait, but its biological basis is not well understood. Using a novel approach, we construct LDpred-inf polygenic scores of a general happiness measure in 2 cohorts: the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) cohort (N = 15,924, age range 9.23-11.8 years), the Add Health cohort (N = 9129, age range 24.5-34.7) to determine associations with several well-being and happiness measures. Additionally, we investigated associations between genetic scores for happiness and brain structure in ABCD (N = 9626, age range (8.9-11) and UK Biobank (N = 16,957, age range 45-83). We detected significant (p.FDR < 0.05) associations between higher genetic scores vs. several well-being measures (best r2 = 0.019) in children of multiple ancestries in ABCD and small yet significant correlations with a happiness measure in European participants in Add Health (r2 = 0.004). Additionally, we show significant associations between lower genetic scores for happiness with smaller structural brain phenotypes in a white British subsample of UK Biobank and a white sub-sample group of ABCD. We demonstrate that the genetic basis for general happiness level appears to have a consistent effect on happiness and wellbeing measures throughout the lifespan, across multiple ancestral backgrounds, and multiple brain structures.</p>
12 Authors
- Joey Ward
- Laura M. Lyall
- Breda Cullen
- Rona J. Strawbridge
- Xingxing Zhu
- Ioana Stanciu
- Alisha Aman
- Claire L. Niedzwiedz
- Jana Anderson
- Mark E. S. Bailey
- Donald M. Lyall
- Jill P. Pell
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health