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The heritability of perceived stress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2006

ILONA S. FEDERENKO
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA Department of Clinical and Theoretical Psychobiology, University of Trier, Germany
WOLFF SCHLOTZ
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Theoretical Psychobiology, University of Trier, Germany MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, University of Southampton, UK
CLEMENS KIRSCHBAUM
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Technical University of Dresden, Germany
MEIKE BARTELS
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
DIRK H. HELLHAMMER
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Theoretical Psychobiology, University of Trier, Germany
STEFAN WÜST
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Theoretical Psychobiology, University of Trier, Germany

Abstract

Background. Exploration of the degree to which perceived chronic stress is heritable is important as these self-reports have been linked to stress-related health outcomes. The aims of this study were to estimate whether perceived stress is a heritable condition and to assess whether heritability estimates vary between subjective stress reactivity and stress related to external demands.

Method. A sample of 103 monozygotic and 77 dizygotic twin pairs completed three questionnaires designed to measure perceived stress: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Measure for the Assessment of Stress Susceptibility (MESA) and the Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress (TICS). The TICS assesses the frequency of stressful experiences on six scales, the MESA assesses subjective stress reactivity, and the PSS takes both factors into account.

Results. A multivariate model-fitting procedure revealed that a model with common additive genetic and shared environmental factors best fit the eight scales (PSS, MESA, six TICS scales). Heritabilities for the best-fitting model varied between 5% and 45%, depending on the scale.

Conclusions. The present data suggest that perceived stress is in part heritable, that nearly half of the covariance between stress scales is due to genetic factors, and that heritability estimates vary considerably, depending on the questionnaire. Beyond methodological considerations that pertain to the validity of the questionnaires, these data suggest that studies assessing the heritability of perceived chronic stress should take the specific questionnaire focus into account.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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