1 in 10!

[Maiden Stone]

It may be an item on "More or Less", Friday, Radio 4.

[ThrelfallYorky]

Ah, I'll try to remember to listen to that. Thanks.

[Mike in Cumbria]

One [unavoidable] defect of the study is that, since it is based on Y chromosomes, it traces only male offspring.  One has to assume that the rate is the same for female children but that is only true if husbands are equally likely to tolerate either sex if and when they suspect a child is not their own.  That might not be true - they might be less tolerant of a suspected male cuckoo in the nest because he would stand to inherit a name and property that were not 'rightly' his.

I also remember a theory that it's evolutionarily more advantageous for a baby to resemble its father than its mother to avoid being treated as a potential cuckoo in the nest. Whether there was any evidence for this or not, I don't remember.

[Craclyn]

This is why it is a good idea to take a DNA test so that you can get evidence to support or disprove your paper trail tree.

[melba_schmelba]

It may be an item on "More or Less", Friday, Radio 4.

The problem is, if questioned on it, Mr. Cummings can say, oh the data is all confidential  . And exactly how and why have they been comparing child and parent DNA to see if they are related anyway ?

[Mike in Cumbria]

And exactly how and why have they been comparing child and parent DNA to see if they are related anyway ?

This is in the context of inherited diseases.

[andrewalston]

My guess is that any actual statistics behind the headline figure come from DNA tests carried out in cases where paternity was already in doubt.

Hardly a chance of matching the proportion of events in the wider population.

[Andrew Tarr]

As the old saying goes:  Mummy's baby.  Daddy's .....  maybe.

 
Or the other one - it's a wise child that knows its own father ?

[pharmaT]

If the one in ten figure is derived from people who have applied for paternity tests then the figure will be biased as those who have doubts regarding paternity are the ones who are likely to take paternity tests.  TBH other than paternity tests I don't see how they could determine paternity wasn't what they thought.