Past research on the link between personal characteristics and marital satisfaction has taken either an individual or a dyadic approach. The individual approach examines how self and/or partner characteristics are associated with satisfaction, whereas the dyadic approach focuses on couple characteristics such as couple similarity. The current research was designed to integrate both approaches. A modified Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kashy & Kenny, 2000) was proposed to test simultaneously the contributions of self characteristics, partner characteristics, and two types of couple similarity (level similarity measured by the absolute difference score and shape similarity measured by the profile correlation) in predicting husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction. This model was tested by structural equation modeling in two large, nationally representative, urban samples (N=536 and 537 couples) from China. The results were largely replicated across four personality domains and two value domains, suggesting that all predictors tended to make independent contributions to satisfaction except the absolute difference score.

Recent research suggests that both the accuracy and linearity of number estimations are a source of difficulty in mathematical learning. There is also a range of evidence to suggest that children in East Asia are typically mathematically precocious compared to Western peers. Bringing these strands of work together, we discuss number line estimations involving an ability match study of children growing up in the United Kingdom and China. This article confirms that the quality of children's number estimation is associated with some-but by no means all-early number problems. However, contrary to earlier studies, young Chinese children do not display more linear number scales in advance of (and potentially as a driver for) their math skills. Instead, their number estimations are not more accurate than those from an older Western sample with equivalent mathematical ability. The development of linearity in numerical representations takes a complex developmental path in multiple cultures.

Evidence of couple similarity was examined in 2 nationally representative samples (Ns = 536 and 537 couples) from mainland China. Variable-centered and couple-centered tests provided convergent results suggesting that husbands and wives were considerably similar on characteristics of 3 broad categories: demographic variables, values, and personality. Additional tests suggest that value and personality similarities were not likely to be due to social homogamy, convergence, response biases, or culture-unique characteristics. Whereas the couple similarity on demographics and values largely mirrors what has been observed in Western research, Chinese couples' consistent and strong similarity on personality domains presents a striking contrast to Western couples who share little systematic similarity on personality.Why do two individuals in a relationship choose each other instead of anybody else available? This is a fundamental and perplexing question in the study of close relationships. One longstanding hypothesis is that partners may have selected each other because they share important similarities. Indeed, the bulk of the research on couple similarity (i.e.,

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In the People's Republic of China, psychology was attacked twice: in 1958 and during the `Cultural Revolution'. However, even during that terrible time, some Chinese psychologists continued to do research alone and in secret. Among Chinese psychologists of the older generation, there were some who tried to take dialectical materialism as the guiding principle in their work as early as the 1930s. In addition, a special research field of Chinese psychology is to unearth the psychological teachings of ancient China. Valuable achievements have been made in this area.