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Divorce is contagious in social networks, a new study says. The idea is based on the theory of social contagion, or the spread of behavior or emotion through a group. In this case, the heated feelings and actions of one person’s divorce can be transferred like a virus, causing others to divorce, according to the study.

Not only can the risk of divorce spread from one couple to their friends or family, it can also affect relationships at least two degrees of separation away from the original couple splitting up, said James H. Fowler, a professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego.

Your decision to split from your spouse can influence whether your friend gets divorced. It also can sway your friend’s friend, according to preliminary findings by Fowler and fellow researchers from Harvard and Brown Universities.

via Could you be ‘infected’ by friend’s divorce? – CNN.com.