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Gene for optimism discovered

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For the first time, scientists have identified a particular gene's link to optimism, self-esteem and mastery, the belief that one has control over his or her life. These are three critical resources for well-being and coping with stress.

"I have been looking for this gene for a few years, and it is not the gene I expected," said Shelley E. Taylor, a distinguished professor of psychology at UCLA and senior author of the new research. "I knew there had to be a gene for these psychological resources."

The gene is identified as the oxytocin receptor gene, OXTR. Oxytocin is he hormone that increases in response to stress and is associated with good social skills such as empathy.

"This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to report a gene associated with psychological resources," said Shimon Saphire-Bernstein, a doctoral student in psychology in Taylor's lab. "However, we wanted to go further and see if psychological resources explain why the OXTR gene is tied to depressive symptoms. We found that the effect of OXTR on depressive symptoms was fully explain by psychological resources."

The oxytocin receptor has two variants, and A variant and a G variant. They discovered that people who have either two As or one A and one G at a specific location on the oxytocin receptor have a substantially lower level of optimism, self-esteem and mastery, along with higher levels of depression.

"Sometimes people are skeptical that genes predict any kind of behavior or psychological state. I think we show conclusively that they do," said Taylor.

While genes might leave a person to be predisposed to a certain kind of behavior, many environmental factors influence self-esteem, optimism and mastery. In other words, even Taylor and her team believe that determination and environment can overcome the gene code. "I originally assumed that biology largely determines behavior, and so it was a tantalizing surprise to see how clearly social relationships forge our underlying biology, even at the level of gene expression," wrote Taylor.

Source: UCLA, ScienceDaily

photo by Steve Jurveston

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