Dataset Information

Associations between loneliness and personality are mostly driven by a genetic association with Neuroticism.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:Loneliness is an aversive response to a discrepancy between desired and actual social relationships and correlates with personality. We investigate the relationship of loneliness and personality in twin family and molecular genetic data. METHOD:Phenotypic correlations between loneliness and the Big Five personality traits were estimated in 29,625 adults, and in a group with genome-wide genotype data (N?=?4,222), genetic correlations were obtained. We explored whether genetic correlations may reflect causal relationships by investigating within monozygotic twin pair differences (Npairs ?=?2,662), by longitudinal within-subject changes in personality and loneliness (N?=?4,260-9,238 longitudinal comparisons), and by longitudinal cross-lagged panel analyses (N?=?15,628). Finally, we tested whether genetic correlations were due to cross-trait assortative mating (Nspouse pairs ?=?4,436). RESULTS:The strongest correlations with loneliness were observed for Neuroticism (r?=?.55) and Extraversion (r?=?-.33). Only Neuroticism showed a high correlation with loneliness independent of other personality traits (r?=?.50), so follow-up analyses focused on Neuroticism. The genetic correlation between loneliness and Neuroticism from genotyped variants was .71; a significant reciprocal causal relationship and nonsignificant cross-trait assortative mating imply that this is at least partly due to mediated pleiotropy. CONCLUSIONS:We show that the relationship between loneliness and personality is largely explained by its relationship with Neuroticism, which is substantially genetic in nature.

SUBMITTER: Abdellaoui A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6231981 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Associations between loneliness and personality are mostly driven by a genetic association with Neuroticism.

Abdellaoui Abdel A Chen Hsi-Yuan HY Willemsen Gonneke G Ehli Erik A EA Davies Gareth E GE Verweij Karin J H KJH Nivard Michel G MG de Geus Eco J C EJC Boomsma Dorret I DI Cacioppo John T JT

Journal of personality 20180802 2

<h4>Objective</h4>Loneliness is an aversive response to a discrepancy between desired and actual social relationships and correlates with personality. We investigate the relationship of loneliness and personality in twin family and molecular genetic data.<h4>Method</h4>Phenotypic correlations between loneliness and the Big Five personality traits were estimated in 29,625 adults, and in a group with genome-wide genotype data (N = 4,222), genetic correlations were obtained. We explored whether gen ...[more]

PMID: 29752830

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Project description:BackgroundSeveral studies in the new field of cognitive epidemiology have shown that higher intelligence predicts longer lifespan. This positive correlation might arise from socioeconomic status influencing both intelligence and health; intelligence leading to better health behaviours; and/or some shared genetic factors influencing both intelligence and health. Distinguishing among these hypotheses is crucial for medicine and public health, but can only be accomplished by studying a genetically informative sample.MethodsWe analysed data from three genetically informative samples containing information on intelligence and mortality: Sample 1, 377 pairs of male veterans from the NAS-NRC US World War II Twin Registry; Sample 2, 246 pairs of twins from the Swedish Twin Registry; and Sample 3, 784 pairs of twins from the Danish Twin Registry. The age at which intelligence was measured differed between the samples. We used three methods of genetic analysis to examine the relationship between intelligence and lifespan: we calculated the proportion of the more intelligent twins who outlived their co-twin; we regressed within-twin-pair lifespan differences on within-twin-pair intelligence differences; and we used the resulting regression coefficients to model the additive genetic covariance. We conducted a meta-analysis of the regression coefficients across the three samples.ResultsThe combined (and all three individual samples) showed a small positive phenotypic correlation between intelligence and lifespan. In the combined sample observed r = .12 (95% confidence interval .06 to .18). The additive genetic covariance model supported a genetic relationship between intelligence and lifespan. In the combined sample the genetic contribution to the covariance was 95%; in the US study, 84%; in the Swedish study, 86%, and in the Danish study, 85%.ConclusionsThe finding of common genetic effects between lifespan and intelligence has important implications for public health, and for those interested in the genetics of intelligence, lifespan or inequalities in health outcomes including lifespan.

Project description:Loneliness, influenced by genetic and environmental factors such as childhood maltreatment, is one aspect of interpersonal dysfunction in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Numerous studies link loneliness and BPD and twin studies indicate a genetic contribution to this association. The aim of our study was to investigate whether genetic predisposition for loneliness and BPD risk overlap and whether genetic risk for loneliness contributes to higher loneliness reported by BPD patients, using genome-wide genotype data. We assessed the genetic correlation of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of loneliness and BPD using linkage disequilibrium score regression and tested whether a polygenic score for loneliness (loneliness-PGS) was associated with case-control status in two independent genotyped samples of BPD patients and healthy controls (HC; Witt2017-sample: 998 BPD, 1545 HC; KFO-sample: 187 BPD, 261 HC). In the KFO-sample, we examined associations of loneliness-PGS with reported loneliness, and whether the loneliness-PGS influenced the association between childhood maltreatment and loneliness. We found a genetic correlation between the GWAS of loneliness and BPD in the Witt2017-sample (rg = 0.23, p = 0.015), a positive association of loneliness-PGS with BPD case-control status (Witt2017-sample: NkR² = 2.3%, p = 2.7*10-12; KFO-sample: NkR² = 6.6%, p = 4.4*10-6), and a positive association between loneliness-PGS and loneliness across patient and control groups in the KFO-sample (β = 0.186, p = 0.002). The loneliness-PGS did not moderate the association between childhood maltreatment and loneliness in BPD. Our study is the first to use genome-wide genotype data to show that the genetic factors underlying variation in loneliness in the general population and the risk for BPD overlap. The loneliness-PGS was associated with reported loneliness. Further research is needed to investigate which genetic mechanisms and pathways are involved in this association and whether a genetic predisposition for loneliness contributes to BPD risk.

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Associations between loneliness and personality are mostly driven by a genetic association with Neuroticism.

Publications

Associations between loneliness and personality are mostly driven by a genetic association with Neuroticism.

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