Bjørndal Ludvig Daae, Nes Ragnhild Bang, Ayorech Ziada, Vassend Olav, Røysamb Espen
PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Qual Life Res. 2025 Feb;34(2):535-545. doi: 10.1007/s11136-024-03832-8. Epub 2024 Nov 20.
Social factors are associated with mental health and wellbeing. However, few studies have examined genetic and environmental influences on social factors themselves, limiting current understanding of influences on aspects of the social environment. Most studies which have identified links between social factors and mental health are also limited by the possible influence of unmeasured genetic and environmental confounding. In this study, we investigated the genetic and environmental underpinnings of multiple social factors (relationship satisfaction, loneliness, attachment, trust, relationship disruptions), and their associations with life satisfaction measured concurrently and six years later, after accounting for shared genetic and environmental confounding.
Data from a population-based sample of adult twins (N = 1987) and two measurement timepoints were used for the primary analyses. We used multivariate Cholesky models to estimate genetic and environmental influences across five social factors. Subsequently, we conducted co-twin control analyses to examine associations between social factors and wellbeing after controlling for shared genetic and environmental confounding.
Heritability estimates for the social factors ranged from 24 to 42%. Genetic correlations across social factors were substantial, indicative of considerable genetic overlap. Associations between wellbeing and relationship satisfaction, loneliness, anxious and avoidant attachment, trust, and disruptions in relationships in the past year were attenuated in co-twin control analyses but remained statistically significant. Relationship satisfaction, loneliness, and attachment avoidance were also associated with wellbeing measured six years later in estimates which controlled for shared genetic and environmental confounding.
Our findings provide evidence that multiple social factors are associated with wellbeing after accounting for potential confounding by shared genetic and/or environmental factors. These findings highlight the importance of multiple aspects of the social environment for wellbeing in older adulthood. Future studies should examine the directionality in associations between social factors and mental health and assess these relationships beyond older adulthood.
社会因素与心理健康及幸福感相关。然而，很少有研究考察基因和环境对社会因素本身的影响，这限制了目前对社会环境各方面影响的理解。大多数已确定社会因素与心理健康之间联系的研究，也受到未测量的基因和环境混杂因素可能影响的限制。在本研究中，我们调查了多种社会因素（关系满意度、孤独感、依恋、信任、关系破裂）的基因和环境基础，以及在考虑了共享基因和环境混杂因素后，它们与同时测量以及六年后测量的生活满意度之间的关联。
来自基于人群的成年双胞胎样本（N = 1987）的数据和两个测量时间点用于主要分析。我们使用多变量Cholesky模型来估计五个社会因素的基因和环境影响。随后，我们进行了共双胞胎对照分析，以检验在控制了共享基因和环境混杂因素后社会因素与幸福感之间的关联。
社会因素的遗传度估计范围为24%至42%。社会因素之间的遗传相关性很强，表明存在相当大的基因重叠。在共双胞胎对照分析中，幸福感与关系满意度、孤独感、焦虑和回避型依恋、信任以及过去一年中的关系破裂之间的关联减弱，但仍具有统计学意义。在控制了共享基因和环境混杂因素的估计中，关系满意度、孤独感和回避型依恋也与六年后测量的幸福感相关。
我们的研究结果提供了证据，表明在考虑了共享基因和/或环境因素的潜在混杂作用后，多种社会因素与幸福感相关。这些发现凸显了社会环境的多个方面对老年期幸福感的重要性。未来的研究应考察社会因素与心理健康之间关联的方向性，并在成年期以外评估这些关系。
