Why do women hug more than men? It’s in the genes, study says

WOMEN are genetically predisposed to dishing out more hugs than men, according to a study.

About 45 per cent of a woman’s desire for affection is hereditary, while the remaining 55 per cent is due to environmental factors, researchers from Arizona University in the US found.

In comparison, any variation between men in their levels of “skin hunger” is down to entirely environmental factors, the study suggested.

The scientists said their findings supported previous research that showed “almost without exception” that women tended to be more affectionate than men. However, they were keen to stress that having a greater genetic tendency towards hugging did not mean women had less control over their urges for human contact.

Prof Kory Floyd, who led the study, said: “Our genes simply predispose us to certain kinds of behaviours; that doesn’t automatically mean we’re going to engage in those behaviours. And it certainly doesn’t mean that we have no control over them.

“There is some speculation that affectionate behaviour is more health supportive for women than it is for men, and that it helps women to manage the effects of stress more than it does for men. That may be partly why women are more likely than men to inherit the tendency to behave that way, rather than that tendency simply being a product of their environment.”

The scientists studied 464 pairs of adult twins, half of whom were identical, aged between 19-84. They used twins because their environment growing up would be similar, but their genetic similarity varied according to whether they were identical or not.

Written “affection tests”, completed by participants, revealed that identical and non-identical female twins were overall more affectionate than their male counterparts, and that female identical twins, who are genetically closer, had more similar scores than non-identical female twins.

The study was published in the journal Communication Monographs.