Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41499044›Full record

ArticleBehavior genetics2026

Association of Self-esteem with Mental Health and Personality: The Contribution of Genetic and Environmental Factors.

Henrike F van den Berg, Meike Bartels, Bruno Sauce, Teemu Palviainen, Richard J Rose, Jaakko Kaprio, Eero Vuoksimaa, Karri Silventoinen

Abstract readTwin Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Behavior genetics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Henrike F van den BergDepartment of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Meike BartelsDepartment of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Bruno SauceDepartment of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Teemu PalviainenInstitute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Richard J RoseDepartment of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Jaakko KaprioInstitute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Eero VuoksimaaInstitute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Karri SilventoinenHelsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 42, Unioninkatu 33, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland. karri.silventoinen@helsinki.fi.

Funding

ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL ABUSE: A TWIN-STUDY PERSPECTIVER37AA012502 · NIAAA · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI ROSE, RICHARD JOSEPH · 2000 to 2009
$2.9M
Adolescent Alcohol Abuse: A Twin-Study PerspectiveR01AA012502 · NIAAA · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI ROSE, RICHARD JOSEPH · 2013 to 2017
$1.2M
USE &ABUSE OF ALCOHOL--A BEHAVIOR-GENETICS PERSPECTIVEK05AA000145 · NIAAA · INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON · PI ROSE, RICHARD JOSEPH · 1992 to 1996
–
BEHAVIORAL PRECURSORS OF ALCOHOLISM--TWIN FAMILY STUDIESR01AA009203 · NIAAA · INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON · PI ROSE, RICHARD JOSEPH · 1994 to 1998
–
NIAAA NIH HHS K05 AA000145NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA009203NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA012502NIAAA NIH HHS R37 AA012502
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Individuals with high self-esteem experience less social anxiety, fewer depressive symptoms, and exhibit lower neuroticism and higher extraversion. We aimed to explore the genetic and environmental influences behind these associations. Self-esteem, four mental health indicators, and five personality factors were assessed in 1,288 Finnish young adult twins, including 583 complete pairs. The mean age of the participants was 21.9 years (SD = 0.8). Classical twin modelling was used to estimate genetic and environmental correlations. Additionally, regression models were used to examine the association between self-esteem and polygenic scores (PGS) of several mental health traits. Among all participants, self-esteem associated positively with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and negatively with depressive symptoms, alexithymia, schizotypal personality, overall mental health problems and neuroticism. These associations were explained by additive genetic factors (19-66% of covariation) and unique environmental factors (36-81% of covariation) when using twin modelling. Self-esteem correlated only with the PGS of subjective well-being in men and women. The proportion of variance of self-esteem explained by the PGSs was minor (1.5% or less). These findings suggest that while self-esteem shares a genetic background with mental health and personality traits, unique environmental factors can also influence these connections. Our findings are consistent with a hypothesis that enhancing self-esteem can have a positive impact on mental health.

Indexed as

Mental HealthPersonalitySelf ConceptDepressionFemaleFinlandGene-Environment InteractionHumansMaleMultifactorial InheritanceNeuroticismTwinsTwins, DizygoticTwins, MonozygoticYoung AdultMental healthPersonalityPolygenic scoreSelf-esteemTwins

Identifiers

PMID41499044
PMCPMC12795968

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.