“Genetics, Leadership Position, and Well-Being: An Investigation With a Large-Scale GWAS”, 2022-03-14 ():
Our study presents the largest whole-genome investigation of leadership phenotypes to date.
We identified genome-wide statistically-significant loci for leadership phenotypes, which are overlapped with top hits for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and intelligence.
Our study demonstrated the polygenic nature of leadership, the positive genetic correlations between leadership traits and a broad range of well-being indicators, and the unique association of leadership with well-being after accounting for genetic influences related to other socioeconomic status measures. Our findings offer insights into the biological underpinnings of leadership.
Twin studies document leadership role occupancy (eg. whether one holds formal supervisory or management positions) as a heritable trait. However, previous studies have been underpowered in identifying specific genes associated with this trait, which has limited our understanding of the genetic correlations between leadership and one’s well-being.
We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on individuals’ leadership phenotypes that were derived from supervisory/managerial positions and demands among 248,640 individuals of European ancestry from the UK Biobank data…and replicated top variants in 3 independent samples [UKBB followup, Add Health Wave IV, WLS].
Among the 9 genome-wide statistically-significant loci, the identified top regions are pinpointed to previously reported GWAS loci for bipolar disorder (miR-2113/POUSF2 and LINC01239) and schizophrenia loci (ZSWIM6). We found positive genetic correlations between leadership position and several positive well-being and health indicators, including high levels of subjective well-being, and low levels of anxiety and depression (|rg| > 0.2). Intriguingly, we observed positive genetic correlations between leadership position and some negative well-being indicators, including high levels of bipolar disorder and alcohol intake frequency. We also observed positive genetic correlations between leadership position and shortened longevity, cardiovascular diseases, and body mass index after partialling out the genetic variance attributed to either educational attainment or income. The positive genetic correlation between leadership and bipolar disorder seems potentially more pronounced for those holding senior leadership positions (rg: 0.10–0.24), partially due to shared genetic variants with educational attainment.
Our findings provide insights into the polygenic nature of leadership and shared genetic underpinnings between the leadership position and one’s health and well-being.