For years, psychologists have believed and agreed that one’s environment as a child will affect one’s adulthood. So, those individuals whose parents divorced during their childhood years are likely to follow in mom and dad’s footsteps and end up filing for divorce as well. However, a recent study suggests environment may not play as big a role as once thought. Couples in Georgia and elsewhere may end up getting divorced because of their DNA.
Is there a divorce gene? Maybe not, but biology, according to researchers at one leading university, in collaboration with others at a university abroad, seems to certainly play a role in whether a person will divorce at some point in his or her life. The marital histories of over 82,000 individuals who were adopted as children were looked at, as were the histories of their adoptive and biological parents. What the study found was, those whose biological parents divorced were more likely to end their marriages than those whose adoptive parents ended their marital unions.
Why? The why is not specifically known. It is just what the numbers are saying. So it is believed that there is some hardwired need to divorce in some families.
Does it matter if it is DNA or environment? Maybe. How a couple approaches the divorce topic may be different if they knew if environment or genes were playing a role. Counselors may suggest different things to help couples attempt to save their marriages before they decide to file for divorce. At the end of the day, though, if ending the marriage is what is wanted, Georgia couples can turn to experienced family law attorneys who will be able to assist them through the process.
Source: medicalnewstoday.com, “Our decision to divorce may be genetic“, Ana Sandoui, Oct. 8, 2018