Examining gray matter structures associated with individual differences in global life satisfaction in a large sample of young adults | Zendy

Feng Kong | Zendy; Ke Ding | Zendy; Zetian Yang | Zendy; Xiaobin Dang | Zendy; Siyuan Hu | Zendy; Yiying Song | Zendy; Jia Liu | Zendy

Open Access

Examining gray matter structures associated with individual differences in global life satisfaction in a large sample of young adults

Author(s) -

Feng Kong,

Ke Ding,

Zetian Yang,

Xiaobin Dang,

Siyuan Hu,

Yiying Song,

Jia Liu

Publication year - 2014

Publication title -

social cognitive and affective neuroscience

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.229

H-Index - 103

eISSN - 1749-5024

pISSN - 1749-5016

DOI - 10.1093/scan/nsu144

Subject(s) - precuneus , life satisfaction , psychology , voxel based morphometry , cognition , middle frontal gyrus , prefrontal cortex , association (psychology) , developmental psychology , neural correlates of consciousness , parahippocampal gyrus , clinical psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , temporal lobe , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , psychotherapist , white matter , radiology , epilepsy

Although much attention has been directed towards life satisfaction that refers to an individual's general cognitive evaluations of his or her life as a whole, little is known about the neural basis underlying global life satisfaction. In this study, we used voxel-based morphometry to investigate the structural neural correlates of life satisfaction in a large sample of young healthy adults (n = 299). We showed that individuals' life satisfaction was positively correlated with the regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), and negatively correlated with the rGMV in the left precuneus and left ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This pattern of results remained significant even after controlling for the effect of general positive and negative affect, suggesting a unique structural correlates of life satisfaction. Furthermore, we found that self-esteem partially mediated the association between the PHG volume and life satisfaction as well as that between the precuneus volume and global life satisfaction. Taken together, we provide the first evidence for the structural neural basis of life satisfaction, and highlight that self-esteem might play a crucial role in cultivating an individual's life satisfaction.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research