Multiple social factors are associated with wellbeing when accounting for shared genetic and environmental confounding

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.