What is known about Affairs being genetic?

One of the readers asked “are affairs are genetic?”. You may have wondered this at times yourself. In terms of the research by the white lab coats types, there was a study in 2010 that found evidence that the ‘sensation seeking’ component of affairs is genetic (based on 184 people).

Another study by Czech researchers in 2008 looked at patterns among 84 couples and found some genetic evidence related to affairs. What this means is that that there’s some evidence that a genetic predisposition for affairs is passed on.

There is evidence, yet the sample size is small. It’s too early to say with certainty that affairs are purely genetic. At this point, we don’t know.

As a counselor, my experience in working with couples is that there are family patters of cheating that are passed on. This is clear from the genograms and patterns of family behavior.

What I don’t know is the ‘precise’ method of transmission across the generations. I don’t know ‘how’ affairs are passed from one generation to another.

This means that there’s often a family pattern of affairs. My own experience is that some families hide the affairs from their kids better than others.

Some generations don’t have physical affairs, yet the attitude behind affairs continues being passed on.

Some cheaters will latch onto the news of genetic transmission, giving them the excuse, “I can’t help it. It is in my genes!” This is the problem with genetic traits.

Although they’re passed down, some people are more susceptible to their influence than others. Why is that? If the trait is passed down equally, then there should be equal amounts of influence.

What the family pattern of affairs means to me, is that if it runs in your family, you are at higher risk. You can make choices to break the family patterns.

It also means that if there is an affair in the context of family patterns of them, you are dealing with a family sickness rather than a single cheater with hot pants.

You’ll have to do some serious interventions to alter the family patterns.

In answer to your question, yes, there is evidence affairs are genetic. The areas not clear are “how” it happens, along with the “amount of influence” the genetic factors has.

Since this is an area of research that is not ‘politically correct’, there will likely be debate on this issue for years to come.

Consider the ramification of discovering what specific families are prone to affairs and which ones aren’t.

What is clear is that the risk for affairs is higher in some families. This is one of the reasons I address this topic and address the family patterns in the downloadable “Affair Recovery Workshop”. There are ways of changing and disrupting those patterns.

In the workshop, I guide you in discovering and taking action on the patterns you find.

Best Regards,

Jeff

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