Do your genes control your happiness?
Two new studies suggest that happiness is out of your control. Rather, they found that genes and age impact your general well-being more than daily attempts to be happy.
In one study of nearly 1,000 pairs of adult twins, researchers at the University of Edinburgh suggested that genes account for about 50 percent of the variation in people’s levels of happiness. The underlying determinant was genetically caused personality traits, such as being sociable, active, stable, hardworking or conscientious.
When the people in the study were asked how happy they were, the identical twin pairs responded much more similarly than other twins, suggesting that happiness has a strong genetic component.
Another larger study found that people tend to fall into a larger, cross-cultural and global pattern of joy. Survey data from 2 million people in more than 70 countries showed that happiness typically follows a U-shaped curve. Happiness starts high, trends downward into middle-age, and then climbs back up among older people if they do not have severe health problems.
