Scientists have figured out that infidelity in men has a genetic nature: a son of a cheating father will have extramarital affairs with a high probability. But it turns out that “the rule of heredity” also works among women – the weaker sex internalizes the ugly habit of cheating due to genes.
According to the scientists from the University of Queensland (Australia), some women cannot change because they have a gene “programming” them for infidelity in a relationship with their partners. Researchers estimate that more than 40 per cent of women’s craving for relations beyond a stable relationship arises from the inheritance of the genetic code. In particular, as determined by a specialist, infidelity is a consequence of the activity of the modified gene AVPRIA.
This study clearly shows that the genetic material affects women: for example, how often they will cheat their regular partner. The leading research specialist, psychologist Brandon Zitsch says they have found preliminary evidence for a specific gene that affects infidelity in women.
In their work, the specialists involved the data from 7,300 twins aged 18 to 49, all of whom were in long-term relationships. Special tests helped the authors of the study identify those participants who cheated on their partners. It was found that during the year prior to the survey 9.8% of men and 6.4% of women participating in the study had, in addition to the constant life partner, at least one sexual partner. And some of them had more than one lover.
The researchers themselves say about the need for additional research in this area because human behavior can affect thousands of different genes and to isolate the influence of one of them is problematic. It is not the first time the theory of hereditary predisposition to infidelity finds confirmation in the form of a scientific research. Previously, the scientists from the United States had presented evidence that a particular modification of dopamine receptor, which a person received in the form of “a genetic gift” from parents, affected one’s proneness to indiscretion, including infidelity.
