BACKGROUND: Outcomes in aging and health research, such as longevity, can be conceptualized as reflecting both genetic and environmental (nongenetic) effects. Parsing genetic and environmental influences can be challenging, particularly when taking a life span perspective, but an understanding of how genetic variants and environments relate to successful aging is critical to public health and intervention efforts. METHODS: We review the literature, and survey promising methods, to understand this interplay. We also propose the investigation of personality as a nexus connecting genetics, environments, and health outcomes. RESULTS: Personality traits may reflect psychological mechanisms by which underlying etiologic (genetic and environmental) effects predispose individuals to broad propensities to engage in (un)healthy patterns of behavior across the life span. In terms of methodology, traditional behavior genetic approaches have been used profitably to understand how genetic factors and environments relate to health and personality in somewhat separate literatures; we discuss how other behavior genetic approaches can help connect these literatures and provide new insights. CONCLUSIONS: Co-twin control designs can be employed to help determine causality via a closer approximation of the idealized counterfactual design. Gene-by-environment interaction (G × E) designs can be employed to understand how individual difference characteristics, such as personality, might moderate genetic and environmental influences on successful aging outcomes. Application of such methods can clarify the interplay of genes, environments, personality, and successful aging.
BACKGROUND: Outcomes in aging and health research, such as longevity, can be conceptualized as reflecting both genetic and environmental (nongenetic) effects. Parsing genetic and environmental influences can be challenging, particularly when taking a life span perspective, but an understanding of how genetic variants and environments relate to successful aging is critical to public health and intervention efforts. METHODS: We review the literature, and survey promising methods, to understand this interplay. We also propose the investigation of personality as a nexus connecting genetics, environments, and health outcomes. RESULTS: Personality traits may reflect psychological mechanisms by which underlying etiologic (genetic and environmental) effects predispose individuals to broad propensities to engage in (un)healthy patterns of behavior across the life span. In terms of methodology, traditional behavior genetic approaches have been used profitably to understand how genetic factors and environments relate to health and personality in somewhat separate literatures; we discuss how other behavior genetic approaches can help connect these literatures and provide new insights. CONCLUSIONS: Co-twin control designs can be employed to help determine causality via a closer approximation of the idealized counterfactual design. Gene-by-environment interaction (G × E) designs can be employed to understand how individual difference characteristics, such as personality, might moderate genetic and environmental influences on successful aging outcomes. Application of such methods can clarify the interplay of genes, environments, personality, and successful aging.
Authors: Jian Yang; Beben Benyamin; Brian P McEvoy; Scott Gordon; Anjali K Henders; Dale R Nyholt; Pamela A Madden; Andrew C Heath; Nicholas G Martin; Grant W Montgomery; Michael E Goddard; Peter M Visscher Journal: Nat Genet Date: 2010-06-20 Impact factor: 38.330
Authors: Jacob vB Hjelmborg; Ivan Iachine; Axel Skytthe; James W Vaupel; Matt McGue; Markku Koskenvuo; Jaakko Kaprio; Nancy L Pedersen; Kaare Christensen Journal: Hum Genet Date: 2006-02-04 Impact factor: 4.132
Authors: H Vepsäläinen; V Mikkilä; M Erkkola; S T Broyles; J-P Chaput; G Hu; R Kuriyan; A Kurpad; E V Lambert; C Maher; J Maia; V Matsudo; T Olds; V Onywera; O L Sarmiento; M Standage; M S Tremblay; C Tudor-Locke; P Zhao; T S Church; P T Katzmarzyk; M Fogelholm Journal: Int J Obes Suppl Date: 2015-12-08
Authors: Natacha Carragher; Robert F Krueger; Nicholas R Eaton; Tim Slade Journal: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol Date: 2015-01-04 Impact factor: 4.328
Authors: Deborah L Grady; Panayotis K Thanos; Maria M Corrada; Jeffrey C Barnett; Valentina Ciobanu; Diana Shustarovich; Anthony Napoli; Alexandra G Moyzis; David Grandy; Marcelo Rubinstein; Gene-Jack Wang; Claudia H Kawas; Chuansheng Chen; Qi Dong; Eric Wang; Nora D Volkow; Robert K Moyzis Journal: J Neurosci Date: 2013-01-02 Impact factor: 6.167