Researchers at UC Berkeley and Northwestern University have found a link between DNA and marital satisfaction.
Apparently, a gene involved in the regulation of serotonin can predict how much our emotions affect our relationships, and can help to explain what makes some people more prone to wedded bliss or sorrow than others.
Specifically, researchers found a link between relationship fulfilment and a gene variant, or “allele,” known as 5-HTTLPR. All humans inherit a copy of this gene variant from each parent. Study participants with two short 5-HTTLPR alleles were found to be most unhappy in their marriages when there was a lot of negative emotion, such as anger and contempt, and most happy when there was positive emotion, such as humour and affection. By contrast, those with one or two long alleles were far less bothered by the emotional tenor of their marriages.
The new findings don’t mean that couples with different variations of 5-HTTLPR are incompatible, the researchers note. Instead, it suggests that those with two short alleles are likelier to thrive in a good relationship and suffer in a bad one. The results of the study, which looked at the genotypes of more than 100 spouses and observed how they interacted with their partners over time, bore this out, they said.
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