
SUNDAY, June 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Genetics play a major role in how affectionate women are, but the same does not hold true for men, new research shows.
"When we measure people's tendency to be affectionate and to receive affection from other people, almost without exception we find that women score higher than men," said study leader Kory Floyd. He's a professor in the University of Arizona's department of communication, in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
For the new study, Floyd's team assessed differences in the levels of affection expressed by 464 pairs of adult twins, aged 19 to 84. About half were identical twins and half were fraternal twins.
In women, genes explain 45% of variability in affectionate behavior, while environmental influences such as the...