The Structure of the Genetic and Environmental Influences on Mental Well-Being

Objectives We sought to investigate the structure of the genetic and environmental influences on 3 measures of mental well being Methods Analyses focused on the subsample of 349 monozygotic and 321 dizygotic same sex twin pairs from a nationally representative sample of twins who completed self report measures of emotional psychological and social well being Results The best fit model contained a common pathway to all 3 measures of well being no shared environmental effects and 1 set of parameters for men and women Heritability for the latent mental well being factor was high (72%) and best indexed by psychological well being Moderate trait specific genetic effects were seen for emotional and social well being Nonshared environmental effects for all measures were mostly trait specific Conclusions Genetic influences on the measures of mental well being reflect a single highly heritable genetic factor although some trait specific genetic influences were seen for emotional and social well being Moderate proportions or environmental influences were also shared but the majority of unique environment was trait specific (Am J Public Health 2010 100 2379-2384 doi 10 2105/AJPH 2010 193615)