Mexicans Carry Happiness in Their DNA, Study Finds Mariette Le Roux - Agence France-Presse
go to original January 16, 2016

Above average happiness is actually a trend across Latin America - despite the region’s high levels of poverty and violence. (Katie Onheiber/Tico Times)

Happiness is a state of mind, the gurus say. Well, actually, it could be more a function of genes, the authors of an unusual scientific study asserted this week.

Nations whose inhabitants boast a certain gene variant, they found, had much higher self-reported happiness levels. And the northern part of Latin America won the genetic lottery — with Mexico at the head.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Happiness Studies, claims to be the first to show a link between genetics and happiness at the national level.

Minkov and his colleague Michael Harris Bond from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, relied on the World Values Survey, a ranking based on questionnaires in which respondents have to rate themselves as “very happy,” “rather happy,” “not very happy” or “not at all happy.”

They compared this to data on the ethnic prevalence of “A allele,” a variant of a gene involved in regulating anandamide, a substance which enhances sensory pleasure and helps reduce pain.

The country with the highest happiness rating, Mexico, also had the highest estimated prevalence of A allele, the researchers found.

Read the rest at The Tico Times

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