Men who have commitment and relationship problems should get gene testing done. A team of researchers at the Karolinksa Institute in Sweden released the results of their study which stated that men who carried a common variation of a gene that is involved in brain signaling could have communication and relationship issues.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and said that this gene can effect the production of vasopressin, a hormone which is said to influence monogamy in animals.  The study found that men who had two copies of allele 334 had double the chance of having had a marital or relationship discord as compared to those men who did not carry the gene variant.

Hasse Walum, lead author and a postgraduate student in medical epidemiology and biostatistics said the study was aimed at studying the way some men bonded with their partners. "Women married to men who carry one or two copies of allele 334 were, on average, less satisfied with their relationships than women married to men who didn't carry this allele,” he said. “But, men, if you're tempted to use genes as an excuse for bad behavior, forget about it. Walum says the study might help see any genetic connection to human bonding, “there are, of course, many reasons why a person might have relationship problems,” he added.

In the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden, researchers examined 552 pairs of twins with detailed information about issues such as parent and child relationships, marriage and mental health, testing their blood for a gene called AVPR1A. This gene is similar in rodents and humans and affects a brain chemical which causes blood pressure disturbances or neuropeptide arginine vasopressin. This has also been linked by some studies to autism, aggression by over activating the amygdala, which is the brain’s emotional center.

The study reported that 15 % of the men who had the 334 gene had marital issues in the past and were even now less likely to form a bond with their current partner, while the figure went up to 34 % for the people with two copies of the 334 gene in terms of marital discord in the past. 30 % of the men who carried the gene were unmarried.