Some marriages may be doomed from the start. And it's all because researchers now say your genes may determine whether you get divorced, reports this BBC News article.
Researchers from Boston University gathered data from a U.S. military registry of twins who served during the Vietnam War. Years later, 8,000 twins were interviewed to assess their mental status. At the same time, they were questioned about their marital status -- past and present. Using this information, the researchers found that identical twins shared the same pattern of more frequent divorce than non-identical twins.
Because identical twins share the same genes and non-identical twins don't, this suggests that a genetic influence increases the likelihood of divorce. "So many traits -- even very complex social ones -- have a detectable genetic influence," says lead researcher Dr. Michael Lyons.
If you're worried about whether your marriage will end in divorce, check out this article, also from the BBC News, which describes how Ohio University researchers say they may have come up with a blood test that can predict marital success.
