I’ve joked about lacking a “mom gene” for years, turns out it might have a basis in fact.
While this is some pretty controversial and not-yet-fully-fleshed-out information, if your mom is a total asshole, this might solve a few mysteries for you! Researchers at the Rockefeller University in New York have been studying female mice with babies for clues as to what activates the maternal instinct, and found they’re primarily triggered by the ER alpha levels in the preoptic area of the brain. The level of this specific estrogen receptor is produced genetically in both mice and humans at individual levels, and is even being cited as the reason for some women’s "biological clocks" working overtime while others are basically just cheap, broken McDonald’s Happy Meal watches.
via Research Now Claims There’s A "Mommy Gene" You May Or May Not Have.