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When to have a baby: it turns out it's all down to DNA
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
As it became known, it is the DNA features that directly influence when a person decides to have children, or whether he wants children at all. This is the conclusion reached by geneticists and medical specialists after conducting a large-scale study.
Experts have identified twelve DNA zones responsible for the age at which a person has their first child, as well as the total number of children in the family.
"We have finally managed to prove that it is always necessary to take into account the role of genetics in human reproductive behavior, along with their individual choice, social status, and other possible factors. Control and planning of reproduction is only a small function that we have discovered among other mysterious possibilities of human nature," explains the essence of the discovery one of the authors of the study Nicola Barban, representing the University of Oxford in England.
The study analyzed information on more than half a million men and women from around the world. More information about the project can be found in the pages of the periodical Nature Genetics.
According to Oxford University sociologist Dr. Melinda Mills, certain DNA zones influence both human reproductive behavior and the physiological reproductive functionality of the human body.
For example, in the female body, the gene that influences "delay in childbearing" is linked to genes responsible for later puberty and delayed menopause. It follows that the entire period of human life associated with childbearing is determined by several chromosomal regions.
Is it really true that a person cannot resist DNA and influence the course of reproductive events in his life?
Scientists have not yet received a scientifically substantiated answer to this question: research is ongoing. The twelve DNA zones discovered by geneticists influence the desire to have children and the reproductive ability of a person, but not in all cases. Now scientists are trying to understand the reason for the peculiarities of childbearing in other people for whom such a connection with DNA has not been identified.
Of course, social status, cultural development and many other factors predetermine the reproductive life of most people, but the significance of genes in this process is also great. Making the role of unfavorable factors less significant, controlling the "messages" of genes, being able to "turn on or off" certain genes - all this is still ahead of genetic scientists.
Medical experts are especially looking forward to the completion of such studies, because the information obtained during the experiments can be very useful - for example, for the treatment and prevention of infertility in women and men. Dr. Mills sincerely hopes that the day will soon come when scientists will be able to provide comprehensive data to answer many complex questions in the field of reproductive medicine.