In 2017, 220,582 marriages between people of different sexes and 7,176 marriages between people of the same sex were celebrated in France. But if the “D-day” is generally a pure moment of happiness, it is difficult to predict the future of the couple … and the risk of break-up!
Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health (in the United States) looked at the genetic heritage of spouses in order to determine whether genetics also had a role to play in marital happiness.
To do this, they worked with a group of 178 married couples, ranging in age from 37 to 90 years old. Each participant was invited to complete a satisfaction questionnaire (!) Vis-à-vis their marriage (concerning their feeling of security, their anxiety about the future of the couple, their happiness as a couple …) and to provide a saliva sample to scientists.
Happy marriage, favorable genetics?
The results are surprising: the researchers discovered that when one of the two spouses possessed a particular genetic characteristic (the GG genotype, which affects the receptors for oxytocin in the body, this hormone that is traditionally associated with affection and social relations), feelings of satisfaction and security in the couple were higher. They even managed to quantify this increase: with this genetic peculiarity, “marital happiness” was higher by about 4%.
“These works show that the satisfaction we get from our romantic relationships is not only linked to our personality or our experiences as a couple: spouses are also influenced by their genetic predispositions” analyze the researchers, who have published their work in the specialized journal PLOS ONE.
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