Live Skow Hofgaard

• Hofgaard, Live Skow; Nes, Ragnhild Bang; Vassend, Olav Mandt; Ayorech, Ziada; Czajkowski, Nikolai Olavi & Røysamb, Espen (2025). Mental illbeing and wellbeing are influenced by recent adverse life events. Evidence from a longitudinal twin study. Current Psychology. ISSN 1046-1310. 44, p. 8723–8735. doi: 10.1007/s12144-025-07758-3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Adverse life events have been associated with increased mental illbeing and decreased wellbeing. These associations may partly reflect reverse causality and confounding genetics. Few studies have accounted for such effects, and few have compared the effect of adversities within and across different mental health outcomes. Our sample includes 1987 monozygotic and dizygotic twins born 1945-60, in the Norwegian Twin Registry, who responded to two questionnaires six years apart. We used biometric modelling to estimate genetic overlap and linear mixed models to control for previous levels of illbeing and wellbeing as well as genetic confounding in the associations between adverse life events and these outcomes. Our results indicate causal effects of cumulative adversity on increased illbeing and decreased wellbeing. Of the six adversities examined separately, financial strain and conflicts in romantic relationships showed the most profound effect on both outcomes. Conflicts with family/friends/neighbours and problems at work seem to primarily increase illbeing, while serious illness or injury mainly decrease wellbeing. This study supports previous findings that cumulative adversity represents a risk for increased illbeing and decreased wellbeing. Hence, exploring the number of recent adverse events could give valuable insight into individuals’ stressor load, and the reduction and prevention of such events should be important targets for preventive programs and policy. Importantly, our findings further suggest that the events that increase illbeing are not always overlapping with those that decrease wellbeing. This should be taken into consideration when assessing the needs of individuals after difficult experiences.

• Tamnes, Christian K.; Bekkhus, Mona; Eilertsen, Maja; Nes, Ragnhild Bang; Prydz, Monica Beer & Ystrom, Eivind [Show all 63 contributors for this article] (2025). The nature of the relation between mental well-being and ill-being. Nature Human Behaviour. 9(12), p. 2431–2440. doi: 10.1038/s41562-025-02319-x. Full text in Research Archive
• Veer, Ilya M.; Riepenhausen, Antje; Zerban, Matthias; Wackerhagen, Carolin; Puhlmann, Lara M. C. & Engen, Haakon [Show all 50 contributors for this article] (2021). Psycho-social factors associated with mental resilience in the Corona lockdown. Translational Psychiatry. 11(67). doi: 10.1038/s41398-020-01150-4. Full text in Research Archive
• Hofgaard, Live Skow; Nes, Ragnhild Bang & Røysamb, Espen (2021). Introducing two types of psychological resilience with partly unique genetic and environmental sources. Scientific Reports. 11. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-87581-5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Psychological resilience is indicated when individuals demonstrate good mental health despite exposure to significant stress or adversity. Good mental health may involve low levels of illbeing and/or high levels of wellbeing. There is still very limited knowledge about the potential differences between these outcomes in relation to stressors. We propose a distinction between type 1 and type 2 resilience, examine their underlying genetic and environmental architecture, and identify modifiable resilience factors. The data come from a population-based twin sample (N = 1987, mean age = 63) in the Norwegian Twin Registry. Type 1 and type 2 resilience are operationalised as the residual of anxiety/depression symptoms and life satisfaction, respectively, after lifetime cumulative adversity has been regressed out. We used biometric modelling and cotwin-control linear mixed models to estimate underlying factors and identify predictors while controlling for genetic confounding. The results support the notion of two separate, but partly overlapping types of resilience. We find heritabilities of 0.30 (type 1) and 0.24 (type 2) and a genetic correlation of 0.43. Potentially causal resilience factors include, but are not limited to, meaning in life, physical activity, positive affect and relationship satisfaction. Whereas some factors are associated with both resilience types, other factors are unique to each type.

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• Hofgaard, Live Skow (2024). Hva kan bidra til økt hverdagsglede og tilfredshet? Full text in Research Archive
• Hofgaard, Live Skow (2022). Dette gjør deg psykisk robust. [Journal]. VG. Full text in Research Archive
• Hofgaard, Live Skow (2022). Tvillingstudie: Genene forklarer bare en tredel av hvor psykisk robuste vi er. [Internet]. Forskning.no. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  En ny, norsk tvillingstudie avdekker at de som syns livet er meningsfylt, er fysisk aktive og har gode forhold til sine nære, er langt bedre rustet mot stress.

• Hofgaard, Live Skow (2022). Slik kan du trene ditt psykologiske immunforsvar. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Motgang er en del av livet, men vi kan styrke vårt eget og andres psykologiske immunforsvar, slik at vi unngår langvarige psykiske problemer og bevarer glede og tilfredshet.

• Hofgaard, Live Skow (2022). Mening, kärlek och motion gör oss psykiskt starka. [Journal]. Forskning & Framsteg. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Hur psykiskt motståndskraftiga vi är när det gäller att ta oss igenom motgångar beror mindre på gener än på miljöfaktorer. Och de går delvis att påverka.

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