Marriage problems? Husband's genes may be to blame

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The same gene that affects a rodent's ability to mate for life may affect human marriages, Swedish and U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Men carrying a common variation of a gene involved in brain signalling were more likely to be in unhappy marriages than men with the other version, the team at the Karolinska Institute found.

Although they are not sure what the genetic changes do to a man's behaviour, some other research suggests it has to do with the ability to communicate and empathize, the team reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We never looked at infidelity in our study at all. What we have been focusing on is how strongly men bond to their partners," Karolinska's Hasse Walum, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

Walum's team had been intrigued by previous research that showed one genetic difference seemed to explain why one species of vole formed strong pair bonds for life, while another mated promiscuously.

"Maybe this same gene will affect humans," Walum said.

They looked at a study of 552 pairs of twins and their spouses that detailed measures of parent and child relationships, marriage, personality and mental health of middle-class Swedes born between 1944 and 1971.

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