According to a new study, genes affect when a woman has first baby and how many children she will have.. Analyzing the data of 4,300 women living in the Netherlands, the study conducted by the University of Oxford found that some women are genetically predisposed to have babies sooner than others. But despite what their genes might inherently be telling them to do, lead researcher Professor Melinda Mills explains that modern society and the multiple options women have now, compared to generations past, might be forcing them to “override natural selection,” because these women are “are feeling the effects of lifestyle choices and social factors.” Although this may be the case, it doesn’t change the fact that some women are basically set up from the get-go to have babies early.
Separate data used for Mills’ research also found that “15 percent of differences between when modern women have their first baby and 10 percent of differences in the number of children they have,” is all due to genes, leading the researchers to believe that genes play a bigger role in natural selection, as opposed to history. However, genes aside, the world in which we live seems to be winning when it comes to determining when women will have a baby more than anything else. Even in knowing the risks of having a baby later in life, women are opting for it.
Although we often seem to associate the roles our genes play as being something mostly visible like our looks and personality, that’s clearly not entirely true. Here are four other ways in which genes control other corners of our lives, love lives and relationships especially.
1. Genes Decide Who You’re Attracted To
Similarly to the fact that your body could reject an organ during surgery that isn’t a match, genes, too, can behave in such a way.
According to Dr. Daniel Davis, an immunologist at the University of Manchester in England, the genes that distinguish us from each other are the very thing that decide whether or not we’re attracted to someone. Even if physically we find someone attractive, it's not a guarantee that our genes are going to find them compatible. In the same way an organ rejects an improper match, we subconsciously do the same.
2. Genes Decide Who You Want To Have A Baby With
Genes not only influence sexual attraction, but they determine whether or not you've found someone right with whom to have a child. Between genetics and the wiring in the brain, whether you will have a successful pregnancy is something your genes already have figured out. So, they do their best to make sure you end up with the right partner by playing such a major role in your sexual attraction to others.
3. Genes Decide If You’ll Cheat On Your Partner Or Not
Despite the fact that, according to a 2013 Gallup poll, 91 percent of Americans think cheating is the absolute worst, it doesn’t stop some people from engaging in some side action. But while, in the past, it was always easy to dismiss such behavior as something of a weakness or lacking of willpower, it’s actually genetic, especially for women.
A 2015 study found that women with a certain variant of the vasopressin receptor gene are more likely to cheat than women who don’t have that particular gene. Earlier studies had assumed that infidelity was genetic, but these more recent studies confirm it.
4. Genes Decide Whether You’re Dateable Or Not
It’s a scary thought but research from late last year found that whether or not you're single could be dependent upon what genes you have.
According to the study published in Scientific Reports last November, over 60 percent of those with the GG genotype and CG genotype of the 5-HT1A gene are more likely to be single than those with the CC genotype. Sure, it sounds confusing as hell, but it’s just another way genes dictate what’s going on in your love life while all you can do is shake your hand at the sky while screaming, “Why, 5-HT1A, why?!”
Images: Claire Joines/Bustle; Giphy(4)
