Background
Social influences from family and friends have been shown to be associated to adolescent wellbeing. Previous research indicates that both wellbeing and social environmental factors are subject to heritable influences.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
We examine the association between adolescent wellbeing and a range of social factors, and potential genetic contributions to these associations.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
Associations between wellbeing and family conflict and functioning, number of friends, friendship importance and satisfaction, and leisure time activities were studied in N=~4739 twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register.
Design
We performed association analyses using generalized estimating equations and twin-difference score regressions. When twin-difference scores point to a role of genetic factors in the associations, indicated by significant difference score associations in monozygotic and dizygotic twins or dizygotic twins solely, we use bivariate genetic models to quantify genetic and environmental influences in these associations.
Results
We identified significant associations between wellbeing and family functioning, family conflict, several leisure time activities, and satisfaction with friendships. Wellbeing difference scores were significantly associated with difference scores for family functioning and family conflict in both types of twins, but leisure time at sport/scouting clubs and satisfaction with friendships were associated in dizygotic twins only. For these four traits, we performed bivariate twin analyses. Bivariate genetic analyses indicate that 70% to 90% of the associations between the 4 social variables and wellbeing are accounted for by genetic factors.
Scientific Contribution
The overlap between wellbeing and these social variables seems to be mostly due to a genetic predisposition for appraising life positively or negatively. These findings have important implications for research into social correlates of adolescent wellbeing, as not taking genetic factors into account leads to overestimations of the influence of identified correlates and consequently might lead to recommendations of these correlates as targets for interventions.