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Individuals with a specific type of gene seem to follow more people on Instagram, researchers have found.
A study of 57 students aged 18 to 25 provided DNA samples and completed a questionnaire assessing their anxiety and avoidance behaviors.
The researchers used the samples to genotype a specific variant of the oxytocin receptor gene OXTR, which has been dubbed “the love hormone.” The OXTR G allele has been found in people who seek more social support in hostile environments, as well as greater empathy and satisfaction in marriage for those who have the GG allele compared to those who have the allele A.
Researchers looked at participants’ Instagram profiles, including the number of posts, followers, and people followed, and found that people with an AA genotype of the OXTR gene followed more people than carriers of the G allele. , regardless of the quality of their intimate relationships. .
“Overall, the role played by the A and G alleles of OXTR SNPs in general social behavior is debated,” said lead author of the study, Gianluca Esposito, psychologist at the University of Trento in Italy. and at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“The current findings may inspire future research exploring online sociability with a gene-environment perspective.”
According to the researchers, the AA genotype may make individuals more likely to be sociable online, but they found no evidence that gene-environment interactions influence online sociability.
“The present results should be interpreted with great caution in the panorama of genetic association studies,” continued Esposito. “This is a small initial investigation into the phenomenon and should be followed in different countries as well as in larger samples.”
The researchers’ findings were published in the journal Helion.
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