More men need the "Good Husband Gene"

Some men are more apt to stay with their wives or girlfriends, or maybe even less likely to engage in a one-night stand. This characteristic brings up the old argument of nature versus nurture. Which one shapes us? Which one makes us who are? Most anthropologists argue it is a combination of both.

Different "love" types have been studied since the days of the Romans. Never before, however, was a love type attributed to human biology — our genetics. It has been assumed that love type was primarily learned through the environment, or through nurture.

A recent study found what might assist biologically what is taught through life in deciding a man's love style.

At the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics did a study on two Swedish twin brothers, according to a Sept. 1 article in the Washington Post. The study found a gene present in males that adjusts and oversees the hormone vasopressin.

Vasopressin is attributed to social motivation. After sexual intercourse vasopressin is released. The hormone activates the brain's reward system, and, according to the study, the more that is present the more the male desires to stick around his mate after ejaculation. The less amount of the hormone present, the less the male is going to want to socialize with his mate after the dirty deed is done.

Differences in the gene between the twin brothers studied in Sweden displayed a connection to how well each one did in their relationships and marriage.

According to Hasse Walum, the lead researcher in the study, a direct relationship was shown in a situation where a man and woman reported they had a "poor bond" with their partner and a certain allele (or variant) of the vasopressin receptor 1a gene was present. The presence of the variant, allele 334, was directly connected to men most unlikely to marry and scored very low on a standard psychological test called the Partner Bonding Scale.

Even worse is for those men carrying two copies of allele 334. These men are twice as likely to encounter a marital crisis or relationship crisis, such as a divorce.

Psychological and relationship tests were given to the males and female partners of the males studied. The women who reported low marital quality, were the same women married to men with the gene variant.

Men in monogamous relationships that do not carry 334 allele see an even more pronounced effect in wanting to be a part of their mate's life long after sexual relations with them. It is not a sexual motivation, but a social motivation.

The study was based on voles that carry the same type of gene and even the 334 variant. Again, the gene was only found in male voles, and no similar gene has yet to be found in females.
"Studies in voles have shown that the hormone vasopressin is released in the brain of males during mating," Walum said to the Washington Post.

The same behavior was displayed in the voles, which prompted researchers to look for the gene in humans, and sure enough there it was, the "good husband gene."

Like all other biological findings, allele 334 is not directly to blame for all the marital problems in this world, though I'm sure men would like this to be the case. Human biology sets out a blueprint for every being, or the nature side of things, but there are always influencing factors once we are born into this world.

Walum also believes this to be true. "Taken together, the effect of the gene variant that we have studied on human pair-bonding behavior is rather small, and it can not, with any real accuracy, be used to predict how someone will behave in a future relationship," Walum said, according to the Washington Post.

So, when hearing about the good husband gene, don't think a pair of good husband jeans can be bought for your slacking, uncommitted partner. DNA can't be changed, and chances are, regardless of whether or not your partner has allele 334 or not, don't expect them to settle down with you too soon. Men are unchangeable.

The findings of the study were published in the "Proceedings of the National Academies of Science."