Genetic and environmental pathways in the associations among self-control, coping strategies, and life satisfaction

Self-control and life satisfaction are core psychological constructs with a robust positive association. While substantial univariate heritabilities have been reported for self-control, life satisfaction shows moderate heritability. However, it remains unclear to what extent their association is attributable to genetic and/or environmental factors. Moreover, it is not fully understood how self-control diverges from related constructs such as stress coping within the overarching framework of self-regulation, and how these differences manifest in their association with life satisfaction. Therefore, the aim of our work was to disentangle the genetic and environmental sources underlying associations between self-control, coping strategies (task-orientation, emotional coping, distraction), and life satisfaction. In our pre-registered study, we used a classical twin design and data from the German TwinLife study (approximately 1200 twin pairs) with an adolescents and young adult sample and applied multivariate Cholesky decomposition. Main findings indicated a substantial genetic overlap between self-control, task-orientation, emotional coping and life satisfaction. This genetic overlap may indicate an underlying latent disposition that contributes to these distinct phenotypes, relevant in positive psychology and the developmental context. We discuss how this finding may advance our understanding about adaptive functioning and suggestions for programs that target to improve self-regulatory capacities and well-being are provided.