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A Divorce Gene?

Such is what I read in the UK Telegraph's 'Divorce gene' linked to relationship troubles.

Researchers say it plays a role in determining how the brain responds to a chemical that is central to the bonding process between a man and a woman.

Men with a variant of the gene tended to score badly on a questionnaire designed to assess how well they bond with their partner and were more likely to report having suffered marital difficulties.

The discovery raises the highly speculative possibility that scientists could one day develop drugs to target the gene in an attempt to prevent marriages from falling apart.

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Mr Walum stressed that the gene could not be used to predict with any real accuracy how someone is likely to behave in a future relationship.

But he added: "The fact that the corresponding gene has proved important for similar behaviour in voles makes our findings even more interesting, and suggests that the thoroughly studied brain mechanisms that we know give rise to strong bonds between individual voles can also be relevant to humans."

Full post as published by Sam Hasler's Indiana Divorce & Family Law Blog on September 08, 2008 (boomark / email).