A Genetically Informed Study of the Association Between Perceived Stress and Loneliness

Abstract

Although research shows a strong positive association between perceived stress and loneliness, the genetic and environmental etiology underlying their association remains unknown. People with a genetic predisposition to perceived stress, for example, may be more prone to feeling lonely and vice versa. Conversely, unique factors in people’s lives may explain differences in perceived stress levels that, in turn, affect feelings of loneliness. We tested whether genetic factors, environmental factors, or both account for the association between perceived stress and loneliness. Participants were 3,066 individual twins (nFemale = 2,154, 70.3%) from the Washington State Twin Registry who completed a survey during April–May, 2020. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the item-level perceived stress and loneliness measures. The correlation between latent perceived stress and latent loneliness was .68. Genetic and nonshared environmental variance components underlying perceived stress accounted for 3.71% and 23.26% of the total variance in loneliness, respectively. The genetic correlation between loneliness and perceived stress was .45 and did not differ significantly between men and women. The nonshared environmental correlation was .54 and also did not differ between men and women. Findings suggest that holding constant the strong genetic association between perceived stress and loneliness, unique life experiences underlying people’s perceived stress account for individual differences in loneliness.