Psychological well-being and gene expression in Korean adults: The role of age

Sung-Ha Lee; Incheol Choi; Eunsoo Choi; Minha Lee; Yuri Kwon; Bumjo Oh; Steven W Cole

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104785

Psychological well-being and gene expression in Korean adults: The role of age

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2020 Oct:120:104785. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104785. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Authors

Sung-Ha Lee¹, Incheol Choi², Eunsoo Choi³, Minha Lee⁴, Yuri Kwon⁴, Bumjo Oh⁵, Steven W Cole⁶

Affiliations

¹ Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: lsh80@snu.ac.kr.
² Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: ichoi@snu.ac.kr.
³ Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
⁵ Department of Family Medicine, SMG- SNU Boramae Medical Center, South Korea.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California, Los Angeles, United States.

PMID: 32622293
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104785

Abstract

Background: Happiness has traditionally been thought to comprise two parts - pleasure (hedonia) and meaning (eudaimonia). Even though the two types of happiness are correlated, genomics studies have found distinct transcriptional correlates of hedonia and eudaimonia, particularly in the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA) marked by up-regulation of proinflammatory genes and down-regulation of interferon-related genes. Eudaimonia has been associated with reduced CTRA gene expression in several studies, whereas hedonia shows no consistent association with the CTRA. However, most of these social genomics studies have been conducted in Western cultures with Caucasian samples, so it is unclear if these findings extended to non-Western cultures with other ethnic groups. Moreover, it is unknown whether age might modify the association between CTRA gene expression and eudaimonia. To this end, we examined in a sample of Koreans the relationship between CTRA profiles and measures of hedonia and eudaimonia, as well as the role of age in modulating the strength of those relationships.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from 152 healthy Korean adults (mean age = 44.64; 50 % female). Well-being was measured using the Mental Health Continuum short form (MHC-SF), Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-being (PWB), and subjective well-being (SWB) scales. RNA transcriptome profiles were obtained by RNA sequencing. Mixed effect linear model analyses examined the association between CTRA gene expression and measures of MHC-SF, SWB, PWB (total scores and six subscales) and additional analyses examined a possible moderating role of age.

Results: CTRA gene expression was significantly downregulated in association with the MHC-SF eudaimonic scores as well as the PWB total scores. Among the six domains of PWB, autonomy showed the strongest inverse correlation with CTRA profiles. Moreover, the inverse association between CTRA and PWB was stronger for older participants.

Conclusion: Eudaimonia is associated with reduced CTRA gene expression in a Korean population, with particularly marked relationships for autonomy. Findings also suggest that aging with meaning may bring biological advantage in later life.

Keywords: Ageing effect; Autonomy; CTRA; Psychological well-being; Social genomics; Subjective well-being.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Female
Happiness
Healthy Aging / genetics*
Healthy Aging / physiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Philosophy
Republic of Korea / epidemiology
Stress, Psychological / genetics*
Stress, Psychological / physiopathology
Transcriptome / genetics