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Human Optimal Functioning: The Genetics of Positive Orientation Towards Self, Life, and the Future

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An Erratum to this article was published on 27 May 2009

An Erratum to this article was published on 27 May 2009

Abstract

Certain personality characteristics such as self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism are fundamental components of positive mental health status and well-being. There is consistent evidence that these traits tend to be substantially correlated in individuals. However, no previous studies have investigated the origin of such correlation. This research used the twin method to unravel the genetic and environmental architecture of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism, along with their mutual interplay. The sample was derived from the population-based Italian Twin Register, and included 428 twin pairs, aged 23–24 years. Multivariate genetic modeling showed that genes influencing self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism are largely overlapping. Furthermore, results indicated that the environmental components of the traits may overlap only modestly, and suggested that a sizeable amount of variance in the traits may be explained by environmental effects specific to each of them.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to V. Patriarca for her skilful technical support in the data management. We acknowledge A. Knafo for his critical comments on this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Gian Vittorio Caprara & Guido Alessandri

  2. Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

    Corrado Fagnani, Antonella Gigantesco & Maria Antonietta Stazi

  3. University of Milan “Bicocca”, Milan, Italy

    Patrizia Steca

  4. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Luigi Luca Cavalli Sforza

Authors
  1. Gian Vittorio Caprara
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  2. Corrado Fagnani
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  3. Guido Alessandri
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  4. Patrizia Steca
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  5. Antonella Gigantesco
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  6. Luigi Luca Cavalli Sforza
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  7. Maria Antonietta Stazi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gian Vittorio Caprara.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9279-7

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Caprara, G.V., Fagnani, C., Alessandri, G. et al. Human Optimal Functioning: The Genetics of Positive Orientation Towards Self, Life, and the Future. Behav Genet 39, 277–284 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9267-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9267-y

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