Assortative mating for major psychiatric diagnoses in 
two population-based samples

Maes, Hermine H.; Neale, Michael C.; Kendler, Kenneth S.; Hewitt, John K.; Silberg, Judy L.; Foley, Debra L.; Meyer, Joanne M.; Rutter, Michael; Simonoff, Emily; Pickles, Andrew; Eaves, Lindon J.

doi:10.1017/s0033291798007326

Cited by 198 publications

(205 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This finding concurs with the adult literature, showing that assortative mating significantly augmented spousal similarity [1,32,37]. Grant and colleagues [25] even showed that assortative mating amplified spouse similarity, while spousal interaction influences decreased similarity if assortative mating was taken into account.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Studies examining reciprocal influence effects between partners' alcohol consumption revealed that partners also affect each other's alcohol use through their own drinking behaviors [12,34,35]. In addition, assortative mating (''like marries like'') seems to be an etiological factor for adult spouse similarities in alcohol dependence [1,25,32,37]. For example, Agrawal and colleagues [1] found that adult women who regularly used alcohol were more likely to marry men with similar behavioral patterns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The crown of love: intimate relations and alcohol use in adolescence

Zwaluw¹,

Vermulst²,

Buitelaar³

et al. 2009

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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Background: Remarkably, little attention has been paid to the role of intimate partners and their drinking behavior in relation to adolescent alcohol use. In the current study, we examined associations between adolescent alcohol use and romantic partners’ drinking behavior. Methods: A total of 428 families, consisting of both parents and two adolescents (aged 13.4 and 15.2 at Time 1) participated in a prospective study with four annual waves. Correlations and multivariate regressions were used to examine (1) similarity in drinking behaviors of adolescents and intimate partners, (2) whether alcohol use of partners prospectively predicts adolescent alcohol consumption, and (3) whether adolescents who consume alcohol select partners over time who show similar drinking behaviors. Results: (1) Frequency of alcohol consumption of adolescents and of their romantic partners correlated significantly. (2) Alcohol use of partners was not predictive of adolescent alcohol consumption over time, if previous levels of alcohol consumption were taken into account. (3) Adolescents acquired partners with similar drinking behaviors. Gender effects were found; adolescent girls, but not boys, were more likely to become involved with partners who also frequently consumed alcohol. Conclusions: Regarding alcohol consumption, adolescents and their intimate partners were relatively similar in alcohol use. This resemblance is best explained by adolescents’ selection of future partner on the basis of alcohol consumption. Less indication was found for influence effects, perhaps due to the transient nature of most adolescent romantic relationships

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The crown of love: intimate relations and alcohol use in adolescence

Zwaluw¹,

Vermulst²,

Buitelaar³

et al. 2009

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The EEA states that environmental influences are shared to the same extent by MZ and DZ twins. Maes et al [1998] found that significant but moderate primary assortment exists for psychiatric disorders. However, it was concluded that the bias in twin studies caused by the small amount of assortment is negligible.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritability of obsessive‐compulsive symptom dimensions

Grootheest

Boomsma

Hettema

et al. 2008

American J of Med Genetics Pt B

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Recent research has shown that obsessivecompulsive symptoms (OCS) differ remarkably among patients and can be divided into several symptom dimensions. OCS are influenced by genetic components, but it is unknown to what extent these symptom dimensions are heritable. The phenotypic heterogeneity also raises the question to what extent the symptom dimensions are influenced by specific or shared genetic factors. We studied a population sample of 1,383 female twins from the Virginia Twin Registry. OCS was measured by a questionnaire with 20 items from the Padua Inventory. After factor analysis, three reliable OC symptom dimensions were retained: Rumination, Contamination, and Checking. These OC dimensions were analyzed with multivariate genetic models to investigate both the overlap and uniqueness of genetic and environmental contributions underlying OC symptom dimensions. The multivariate common pathway model provided the best description of the data. All symptom dimensions share variation with a latent common factor, that is, OC behavior. Variation in this common factor was explained by both genes (36%) and environmental factors (64%). Only the Contamination dimension was influenced by specific genes and seemed to be a relatively independent dimension. The results suggest that a broad OC behavioral phenotype exists, influenced by both genes and nonshared environment. In addition, we found evidence for specific genetic and environmental factors underlying the Contamination dimension. Use of the Contamination dimension could therefore provide a powerful approach for the detection of genetic susceptibility loci that contribute to OCS.

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“…The results of the meta-analysis supported these findings and indicated that marital resemblance occurs in major depression, with odds ratios for the combined data of 2.38. One of the most extensive studies on spousal correlation for psychiatric disorders in a population-based sample was carried out by Maes et al (1998). Several psychiatric diagnoses were examined, including generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder and phobias.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marital resemblance for obsessive–compulsive, anxious and depressive symptoms in a population-based sample

et al. 2008

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Background. Resemblance between spouses can be due to phenotypic assortment, social homogamy and/or marital interaction. A significant degree of assortment can have consequences for the genetic architecture of a population. We examined the existence and cause(s) of assortment for obsessive-compulsive (OC), anxious and depressive symptoms in a population-based twin-family sample.Method. OC, anxious and depressive symptoms were measured in around 1400 twin-spouse pairs and >850 parent pairs. Correlations of twins and their spouse, twin and co-twin's spouse, spouses of both twins and parents of twins were obtained to consider phenotypic assortment versus social homogamy as possible causes of marital resemblance. The association of length of relationship with marital resemblance was also investigated. Finally, we examined whether within-trait or cross-trait processes play a primarily role in marital resemblance.Results. Small but significant within-trait correlations of between 0.1 and 0.2 were seen for spouse similarity in OC, anxious and depressive symptoms. Cross-correlations were significant but lower. There was no correlation between length of relationship and marital resemblance. From the pattern of correlations for twin-spouse, co-twin-spouse and spouses of both twins, phenotypic assortment could not be distinguished from social homogamy. Both within-and cross-assortment processes play a role in marital resemblance.Conclusions. Small within-and across-trait correlations exist for OC, anxious and depressive symptoms. No evidence for marital interaction was found. Spouse correlations are small, which makes it difficult to distinguish between social homogamy and phenotypic assortment. It is unlikely that correlations of this size will have a large impact on genetic studies.

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Assortative mating for major psychiatric diagnoses in two population-based samples

Abstract: Significant but moderate primary assortment exists for psychiatric disorders. The bias in twin studies that have ignored the small amount of assortment is negligible.

Cited by 198 publications

References 53 publications

The crown of love: intimate relations and alcohol use in adolescence

The crown of love: intimate relations and alcohol use in adolescence

Heritability of obsessive‐compulsive symptom dimensions

Marital resemblance for obsessive–compulsive, anxious and depressive symptoms in a population-based sample

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