Gen De La Felicidad En Mujeres

PNP-08214; No of Pages 4
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pnp

1

The MAOA gene predicts happiness in women

3 4 5 6 Q2 7 8 9 10

a

40 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Q3 47 48 49

E

CT

11 12 13 14 15 16 18 17 19 20 21 22 23

P

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t

R O

Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA Clinical and Transitional Science Institute at University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, NationalInstitutes of Health, USA d Columbia University, USA e New York State Psychiatric Institute, USA f National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, USA
b c

O

F

Q1 2

Henian Chen a, b,⁎, Daniel S. Pine c, Monique Ernst c, Elena Gorodetsky c, Stephanie Kasen d, e, Kathy Gordon e, David Goldman f, Patricia Cohen d, e

Keywords: Happiness MAOA Women

E

DArticle history: Received 31 March 2012 Received in revised form 24 July 2012 Accepted 28 July 2012 Available online xxxx

Psychologists, quality of life and well-being researchers have grown increasingly interested in understanding the factors that are associated with human happiness. Although twin studies estimate that genetic factors account for 35–50% of the variance in human happiness,knowledge of specific genes is limited. However, recent advances in molecular genetics can now provide a window into neurobiological markers of human happiness. This investigation examines association between happiness and monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) genotype. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of a population-based cohort, followed for three decades. In women, low expression of MAOA (MAOA-L)was related significantly to greater happiness (0.261 SD increase with one L-allele, 0.522 SD with two L-alleles, P = 0.002) after adjusting for the potential effects of age, gender, race, education, household income, marital status, employment status, mental disorder, physical health, relationship quality, religiosity, abuse history, recent negative life events and self-esteem use in linearregression models. In contrast, no such association was found in men. This new finding may help explain the gender difference on happiness and provide a link between MAOA and human happiness. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 38 37

R

1. Introduction

Q4 50
51 52 53

Q5 54
55 56 57

Psychologists, quality of life and well-being researchershave grown increasingly interested in understanding the factors that are associated with human happiness, perhaps one of the few uniformly embraced priorities (Huppert, 2010; Reichhardt, 2006). Researchers typically use multi-item scales to measure happiness, either on a general level or by asking people how happy they are in specific situations (Myers, 1992). Happiness depends on many factors,including genes, personality, age, income, health, social relationships, and religiosity (Easterlin, 2003; Myers and Diener, 1995). Certainly, happiness may decline with negative experiences or problems, but even serious problems often result in gradual recuperation. Gender also may play a role, in that women tend to be happier than men (Aldous and Ganey, 1999; Alesina et al, 2004; Myers and Diener,1995) despite having substantially higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders. Although twin studies estimate that genetic factors account for 35– 50% of the variance in human happiness (Bartels et al, 2010; Weiss et al,

2008), knowledge of specific genes is limited. However, recent advances in molecular genetics can now provide a window into neurobiological markers of human happiness. De Neve...