Divorce pattern in families could be genetic, reveals new study

The recent study has revealed that divorce could be genetically influenced and it is encoded in our DNA and transmitted from generation to generation.

Researchers have completely denied all the quintessential theories which assumed that's growing up with separated parents sours Kids behavior on relationship and marriage or children of divorced parents are more likely to get divorced themselves.

According to the American Psychological Association, the research is relevant in the United States. In the United States, between 40 and 50 percent of married couples ended up their relationship by divorcing.

Researchers reached the conclusion by studying Swedish population registries to know whether the divorce histories of adopted children looked more like their adoptive parents or more like their biological parents. 

“We were trying to answer the basic question: Why does divorce run in families?” said study author Jessica Salvatore, a psychology professor Virginia Commonwealth University. “Across a series of designs using Swedish national registry data, we found consistent evidence that genetic factors primarily explained the intergenerational transmission of divorce.”

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This research will help the therapists and marriage counselors to handle the divorce cases explicitly.

“I see this as a quite significant finding. Nearly all the prior literature emphasized that divorce was transmitted across generations psychologically,” said Kenneth Kendler, a psychiatry professor at VCU who helped conduct the study. “Our results contradict that, suggesting that genetic factors are more important.”

“What we find is strong, consistent evidence that genetic factors account for the intergenerational transmission of divorce,” Salvatore said. “For this reason, focusing on increasing commitment or strengthening interpersonal skills may not be a particularly good use of time for a therapist working with a distressed couple.”

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