Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jun 14:9:261.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00261. eCollection 2018.

Unraveling the Genetic and Environmental Relationship Between Well-Being and Depressive Symptoms Throughout the Lifespan

Bart M L Baselmans  1   2 , Yayouk E Willems  1   2 , C E M van Beijsterveldt  1 , Lannie Ligthart  1 , Gonneke Willemsen  1 , Conor V Dolan  1 , Dorret I Boomsma  1   2   3 , Meike Bartels  1   2   3
Affiliations

Unraveling the Genetic and Environmental Relationship Between Well-Being and Depressive Symptoms Throughout the Lifespan

Bart M L Baselmans et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Whether well-being and depressive symptoms can be considered as two sides of the same coin is widely debated. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the etiology of the association between well-being and depressive symptoms across the lifespan. In a large twin-design, including data from 43,427 twins between age 7 and 99, we estimated the association between well-being and depressive symptoms throughout the lifespan and assessed genetic and environmental contributions to the observed overlap. For both well-being (range 31-47%) and depressive symptoms (range 49-61%), genetic factors explained a substantial part of the phenotypic variance across the lifespan. Phenotypic correlations between well-being and depressive symptoms across ages ranged from -0.34 in childhood to -0.49 in adulthood. In children, genetic effects explained 49% of the phenotypic correlation while in adolescents and young adults, genetic effects explained 60-77% of the phenotypic correlations. Moderate to high genetic correlations (ranging from -0.59 to -0.66) were observed in adolescence and adulthood, while in childhood environmental correlations were substantial but genetic correlations small. Our results suggest that in childhood genetic and environmental effects are about equally important in explaining the relationship between well-being and depressive symptoms. From adolescence onwards, the role of genetic effects increases compared to environmental effects. These results provided more insights into the etiological underpinnings of well-being and depressive symptoms, possibly allowing to articulate better strategies for health promotion and resource allocation in the future.

Keywords: adolescence; adulthood; childhood; depressive symptoms; heritability; well-being.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The relationship between shared heritability and genetic correlation. g represents genetic factors influencing well-being and depression; Rg(WBDS) represents the genetic correlation between both phenotypes. Shared heritability equals the path rg(WBDEP)hWBhDEP, where hWB equals the square root of univariate heritability for well-being and hDEP equals the square root of the univariate heritability for depressive symptoms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dissection of phenotypic correlation between well-being and depressive symptoms over the lifespan by shared genetic -and environmental effects. A is the proportion of phenotypic correlation explained by shared genetic effects, C by shared environmental effects, and E by unique environmental effects.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Genetic and environmental correlations between well-being and depressive symptoms over the lifespan. (A) Genetic correlation, (B) shared environmental correlation, and (C) unique environmental correlation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Diener E, Oishi S, Lucas RE. National accounts of subjective well-being. Am Psychol. (2015) 70:234–42. 10.1037/a0038899 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Helliwell J, Layard R, Sachs J. World Happiness Report 2016, Update (Vol. I). (2017) New York, NY: Sustainable Development Solutions Network; (2016).
    1. Steptoe A, Deaton A, Stone A. Subjective wellbeing, health, and ageing. Lancet (2014) 385:640–8. 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61489-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kahneman D, Deaton A. High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. (2010) 107:16489–93. 10.1073/pnas.1011492107 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Layard R. Happiness and public policy: a challenge to the profession. Econ J. (2006) 116:24–33. 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2006.01073.x - DOI

LinkOut - more resources