It’s All in Your DNA

It seems genes in our DNA determine the age at which we lose our virginity.

Researchers have discovered that DNA programs more aspects of your life than previously believed, including the age when you lose your virginity. This genetic link was also associated with risk-taking behavior.

While the age at which we have sex for the first time is determined by the behavior of our peers and our upbringing, there are also several biological factors at play which shape our lives. It has been previously proven that this age is influenced by the results people have in school and the way they were raised by their parents.

New research has shown that DNA is also responsible for a quarter of the age variation at which people have sex for the first time. The rest is made up of family background, peer pressure, and religious beliefs.

According to Cambridge University expert John Perry, specialized in reproductive aging and related health conditions, the researchers managed to discover the existence of a heritable component to the age when people lose their virginity. This heritability accounts for 25 percent of the variation, so the total is made up of three-quarters of nurture and one-quarter of nature.

It appears there are 38 DNA sections that influence this age. Among these, the researchers found genes which drive reproductive biology, like the age of puberty or the sex hormones release. The others affect the personality, behavior, and appearance.

CADM2 is the variant of one gene associated with the early start of the sex life, but also with numerous children and risk-taking behavior. Another gene has the MSRA version which is connected to the opposite, a late age of losing virginity, also linked to irritability.

Scientists have also found that another genetic variant which determines the apparition of freckles and red hair in women might influence them to start their sex life later than other people. Their research involved over 125,000 people with ages between forty and 69. On average, the age for losing virginity in both men and women was eighteen.

It appears that early puberty, which is usually triggered by childhood obesity and poor nutrition has an effect on the age when people have sex for the first time, but also on the age at which they have their first kid. Both reduce the potential of these individuals of having high grades in school.

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