Genetics and Infidelity: Are They Related?

Sexual infidelity is thought to be morally wrong by over 91% of Americans, but according to statistics, almost 71% of Americans have cheated on their spouses, and almost 25% of married men have had extramarital affairs. Deteriorating social values and an unhappy marriage have long been thought to be the cause of cheating. Even psychologists are trained to look for emotional distress  and  early life developmental factors that may affect a person's ability to have monogamous relationships. However, science has recently shown us that gene expression, especially the ones pertaining to hormones, have a lot to do with a person's likelihood to cheat on their spouse. 

It has been long known that men have an increased likelihood of cheating on their spouses. This is an evolutionary advantage because it increases the chance of their genes being passed onto the next generation. There is evidence that has recently come to light, however, that shows certain women have a tendency to wander from their relationships, and become inclined to cheat on their partner. Unlike men, women do not cheat for evolutionary reasons. It is found that there is a strong correlation between women who cheat and women who carry certain variants of the vasopressin receptor gene. 

Dr. Zietsch, a psychologist at the University of Queensland, Australia, has performed a study to find the correlation between infidelity, and those who carry the vasopressin receptor gene and oxytocin receptor genes. Vasopressin is a hormone that affect's an animals tendencies to trust, empathize, and have sexual bonding with others. Oxytocin has more to do with sexual intimacy and social bonding. 

The study found that there was a high correlation of people that have increased amount of the hormones and people who have cheated. Although correlation does not imply causation, the data should be taken seriously. Data in animals confirms that the two hormones contribute significantly to an animal's sexuality. But of course, many factors go into infidelity, including behaviors, experiences, as well as genetics, and being affected by one of these genes is not a "moral pass" to cheat. 

The original article can be found here.

The article for statistics can be found here.