Feeling Parental

For everyone who's ever said "Oh God, I'm becoming my mother" -- proof!

A new study finds that genetics are about 33 percent responsible for how we feel physically and about 36 percent responsible for our mental and emotional well-being.

"Attitudes and perceptions have a genetic piece and an environmental piece," said James Romeis, a professor of health services research at Saint Louis University School of Public Health and the principal investigator of the study. "Health-related quality of life is our perception of health and how we believe disease and illness impacts our ability to function. It's much more influenced by genes than we thought."

And of course, add on to that whatever enivronmental attitudes your parents provide you, and it's not entirely surprising when we find ourselves replicating our parents' actions, even the ones we found annoying when we were kids. Certainly in my family I can see some very specific personality tics and quirks that we all seem to have, and I've seen a few of them in Athena as well. Most of the time it's not a bad thing. But every once in a while I see Athena do something I did when I was her age exactly as I did it, and it gives me kind of a pause. Then she goes on to do something I never would have done, and I feel better.

Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry

This entry has 6 comments: (Add your own)

#6 Comment from lurkynat
11/17/05 12:41 AM | Permalink

Dear John,
yes and no..that's why when Athena surprizes you it's so cool..becasue you and your wife were never togetehr in this unque combination in Athena before or in the future!cool huh
nat
#5 Comment from aurielalata
11/16/05 12:22 PM | Permalink

I remember when I was twenty-five (it wasn't that long ago...really), I looked in the mirror one morning, and there stood my mom. It was horrifying!

Seriously, the more I mother, the more I am like my parents in terms of patience (or the lack there of) and in the way I relate. I try not to be exactly like them because they handle somethings in ways that really suck, but overall, I can't help it. I am my mother...let's just hope it's not fatal.

Jess
http://journals.aol.com/aurielalata/CIWTheOtherInvisible
#4 Comment from coelha
11/16/05 11:38 AM | Permalink

Oh my God--you don't know how ironic this is for me. My son told me this morning I was turning into his grandma as I insisted on cleaning his baseball cap on the way of dropping him off at school. Yes, and I used my spit to clean his hat---okay, it wasn't his face so, not so bad, right?! I mean, his hat had dry clay stuff crusted into it. Okay, I'm making excuses, I'm turning into my mother---someone get a gun and kill me.
Julie :)
#3 Comment from knightbek
11/16/05 9:44 AM | Permalink

Oh, dear God! I'm screwed! Wait... no. I suppose this actually means my kids are screwed. Oh, whew! Guess I can relax now.

Bill, the Wildcat
http://journals.aol.com/knightbek/TheWildcatsLair/
#2 Comment from monponsett
11/16/05 9:06 AM | Permalink

WTF??

Show all comments (1 more)

By The Way... Public Journal
Back to Journal	Archives \| Alerts x Entry Alerts Comment Alerts \| Feeds

By The Way...

Feeling Parental