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Some of Us Might Have Divorce in Our Genes, Study Shows

Yeah, not the best news we've ever heard.
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If, like me, you're a child of separated or divorced parents, it probably comes as no surprise that we're more likely to ultimately divorce or separate in our own lives. Most existing theories and beliefs put this down to environmental factors: when kids witness divorce, it becomes normalised as a concept. What's more, when kids witness a divorce that's amicable and beneficial, divorce becomes even less of a terrifying, alien or "bad" concept.

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But according to a recent study, divorce may be more common among this group due to biological factors. In other words, nature over nurture. The propensity might be in our actual genes. The Department of Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University used Swedish registry data to determine if divorce is, in fact, informed by our biology. Looking at people raised by adoptive parents, the research found that people were more likely to resemble their biological parents than their adoptive parents when it came to divorce and separation. Those with biological parents who had experienced divorce, were likely to also divorce in later life.

Jessica Salvatore, Ph.D., who worked on the study, said that the researchers were trying to determine why divorce ran in families. "Our study is, at present, the largest to do this," she writes. "And what we find is strong, consistent evidence that genetic factors account for the intergenerational transmission of divorce."

The findings indicate that it's your personality making you more likely to divorce—including factors such as your conflict resolution skills, comfort with commitment, and level of empathy.

Salvatore says this is significant because it could distinctly affect the way psychiatry approaches therapy for couples. "If a distressed couple shows up in a therapist's office and finds, as part of learning about the partner's family histories, that one partner comes from a divorced family, then the therapist may make boosting commitment or strengthening interpersonal skills a focus of their clinical efforts."

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