Do You Have a Lot of Friends? Thank Your Genes

Your genes give you blue eyes.  Your genes give you dark hair.  Your genes, in some cases (no pointing fingers!), also make you fat.

But did you know they can determine how many friends you may have?  

According to newswise.com, researchers have found that the genes that regulate oxytocin, the supreme human social hormone, are associated with the sociality of young individuals.

Why some individuals seek social engagement and friendship while others shy away, may well be dependent on the expression and sequence of two genes in their bodies, the web site reports.

These genes appear in people who have more close friends and show greater social skills.The hormone released by these genes in humans are involved in primary social behaviors such as pair-bonding, mating and child-rearing, to more sophisticated behaviors such as empathy, trust and generosity.

“We believe that studying the expression of genes captures more information than simple structural studies of DNA sequence since it is the expression of genes that ultimately determine how a gene impacts our traits. Oxytocin plays an important role in these behaviours so it made good sense to our team to study the oxytocin network in relation to social skills important for friendships,” say researchers.

The results from the study showed that participants with higher expression of a certain gene have more close friends, and this association was observed more predominantly among the male participants.

“Male participants with the higher gene expressions displayed greater sociality such as preferring activities involving other people over being alone, better communication and empathy-related skills compared to the other participants. Meanwhile, participants with lower CD38 expression reported less social skills such as difficulty in “reading between the lines” or engaging less in social chitchat, and tend to have fewer friends,” said Dr Chong who is the first author of the study and worked under the supervision of Prof Ebstein.

Interestingly, the researchers found that a variation in the CD157 gene sequence that was more common in autism cases in a Japanese study, was also associated with the participants’ innate interest in socialising and building relationships.

The evidence suggests that oxytocin, and these particular genes that govern its release, contribute to individual differences in social skills from one extreme of intense social involvement (i.e. many good friendships and good relationships with peers) to the other extreme of avoiding social contacts with other people that is one of the characteristics of autism. There is no cause for worry however, as the researchers note that the majority of people are in between the two extremes.

The researchers found that higher expression of this gene sequence account for 14 per cent of the variance in social skills in the general population – "a remarkable finding, especially since typically less than two per cent of findings in behavioral genetic association studies rely on genetic variations alone," according to the researchers.

“Moreover, while expressed genes can influence behaviors, our own experiences can influence the expression of genes in return. So, whether the genes are expressed to impact our behaviors or not, depend a lot on our social environments. For most people, being in healthy social environments such as having loving and supportive families, friends and colleagues would most likely lessen the effects from disadvantageous genes,” conclude researchers.