You can't buy happiness but it looks like you can at least inherit it, British and Australian researchers said.
 
You can't buy happiness but it looks like you can at least inherit it, British and Australian researchers said.

A study of nearly 1000 pairs of identical and non-identical twins found genes control half the personality traits that make people happy while factors such as relationships, health and careers are responsible for the rest of our well-being.

"We found that around half the differences in happiness were genetic," said Tim Bates, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh who led the study. "It is really quite surprising."

The researchers asked the volunteers – ranging in age from 25 to 75 – a series of questions about their personality, how much they worried and how satisfied they were with their lives.

Because identical twins share the same genes and fraternal twins do not, the researchers could identify common genes that result in certain personality traits and predispose people to happiness.

People who are sociable, active, stable, hardworking and conscientious tend to be happier, the researchers reported in the journal Psychological Science.

"What this study showed was that the identical twins in a family were very similar in personality and in well-being, and by contrast, the fraternal twins were only around half as similar," Bates said. "That strongly implicates genes."

The findings are an important piece of the puzzle for researchers trying to better understand depression and what makes different people happy or unhappy, Bates said.

People with positive inherited personality traits may, in effect, also have a reserve of happiness to draw on in stressful times, he said.

"An important implication is that personality traits of being outgoing, calm and reliable provide a resource, we called it 'affective reserve,' that drives future happiness" Bates said.

快樂買不到，但英國和澳大利亞的研究人員稱，快樂至少可以遺傳得到。

一項對近千對同卵及異卵雙胞胎開展的研究發現，在快樂的性格特征中，有一半是由基因控制的，而另一部分則受到人際關系、健康、職業等因素的影響。

研究負責人、愛丁堡大學的蒂姆•貝茨說：“我們發現，研究對象在快樂方面的差異約有一半受到遺傳基因的影響。這個結果實在令人驚訝。”

研究人員向年齡在25歲至75歲之間的志愿者提出了一系列問題，問題涉及他們的性格特點、焦慮程度以及對目前生活的滿意度。

由于同卵雙生的雙胞胎基因完全相同，而異卵雙胞胎不完全相同，所以研究人員可以分辨出決定某些性格特征及使人容易快樂的共同基因。

研究報告在《心理科學》期刊上發表。研究人員指出，善于交際、活潑、踏實、勤奮、有責任心的人更加快樂。

貝茨說：“該研究表明，同卵雙胞胎的性格特征和快樂程度十分相似，然而，異卵雙胞胎僅有約50%的相似度。這充分說明了基因的作用。”

貝茨說，研究人員一直在努力尋找有關“人為什么會郁悶”的更為合理的解釋及影響不同的人快樂與否的因素，這一發現無疑為這一難題提供了一個重要解釋。

他說，具有積極遺傳性格特征的人實際上同時擁有一種“快樂儲備”，供他們在郁悶的時候“支取”。

貝茨說：“這說明了很重要的一點，外向、冷靜和可靠的性格特點能形成一種“情感儲備”，為將來的快樂提供保障。”