Do men grow to resemble their wives, or vice versa?

Sutton, Graham

doi:10.1017/s0021932000020253

Cited by 27 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Second, our results do not suggest that marital correlations should be taken as a sign of common environmental influence unless investigators can demonstrate that these correlations are significantly greater than those due to assortment. This is consistent with data from a study questioning whether men and women grow to look like their spouses (Sutton, 1993). Sutton found that spouses do not grow to resemble one another.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Assortative mating for relative weight: Genetic implications

et al. 1996

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Most work on the genetics of relative weight has not considered the role of assortative mating, i.e., mate selection based on similarity between mates. We investigated the extent to which engaged men and women in an archival longitudinal database were similar to each other in relative body weight prior to marriage and cohabitation. After controlling for age, a small but statistically significant mate correlation was found for relative weight (r=.13, p=.023), indicating some assortative mating. Furthermore, we examined whether mate similarity in relative weight prior to marriage predicts survival of the marriage. No significant effects were found. In sum, these results are consistent with those of other studies in suggesting that there is a small but significant intermate correlation for relative weight. However, they are unique in showing that these results cannot be explained on the basis of (a) cohabitation, (b) age similarity, or (c) selective survival of marriages between couples more similar in relative weight. The implications of these findings for heritability studies, linkage studies, and the estimation of shared environmental effects are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Assortative mating for relative weight: Genetic implications

et al. 1996

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“…If one person smokes cigarettes in a relationship, it is not uncommon for the partner to also be a smoker (Sutton, 1993). In a study of smoking cessation, just over a third of the sample reported that their partners also smoked (Roski, Schmid, & Lando, 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a study of similarity among newlyweds (Houts, Robins, & Huston, 1996), couples were found to be more similar on role preferences and leisure activities than one would expect by chance, thus providing some evidence for assortative mating. Sutton (1993) found that across a wide range of characteristics (e.g., age, education, religion, personality, etc) "...similarities between partners are already present at the outset [of marriage]" (page 28). Taken together, these findings suggest that, for some characteristics, assortative mating may explain spousal similarities.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spousal influence on smoking behaviors in a US community sample of newly married couples

Homish

Leonard

2005

Social Science & Medicine

179

131

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Among married couples, partners often have similar characteristics and behaviors. Among individuals who smoke cigarettes, it is not uncommon for them to have a partner who also smokes. In fact, having a partner who smokes can influence the spouse's initiation of smoking, or return to smoking after a previous quit attempt. Additionally, it is possible that a nonsmoking partner can influence his/her spouse to stop smoking. Participants for this research are from a community sample of couples in the United States. They were recruited at the time they applied for their marriage license and followed through to their second wedding anniversary. Logistic regression models, controlling for demographics, were utilized to determine if a partner's smoking status predicted smoking initiation or relapse over the early years of marriage. Overall, there was some support that a partner's smoking status did influence the other's smoking, although more support was found for spousal influence on relapse than cessation. There was more support for husband's influence compared to wife's influence, nonsmoking wives were more likely to resume smoking in the early years of their marriage if their partners were smokers. Wive's smoking, however, did not predict husband initiation of smoking. These findings suggest that during the transition into marriage, spouses do influence their partners' behaviors. In particular, women are more likely to resume smoking, or return to smoking if their partners smoke.

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“…For this reason, we included only smoking-discordant couples in our study. Given that a recent study of BCT reported similar success rates when one or both partners had an AUD (Schumm, O’Farrell, & Andreas, 2012), that tobacco use is highly correlated within couples (Sutton, 1993), and that partner smoking is related to relapse (Kahn, Certain, & Whitaker, 2002), a BCT intervention for couples in which both partners smoke may be warranted. Future research should examine this question.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral couples therapy for smoking cessation: A pilot randomized clinical trial.

LaChance

Cioe

Tooley

et al. 2015

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

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Introduction Behavioral couples therapy (BCT) has been found to improve long-term abstinence rates in alcohol- and substance-dependent populations but has not been tested for smoking cessation. This pilot study examined the feasibility and acceptability of BCT for smoking-discordant couples. Methods Forty-nine smokers (smoking >10 cigarettes/day) with non-smoking partners were randomized to receive a couples social support (BCT-S) intervention, or an individually-delivered smoking cessation (ST) treatment. The couples were married or cohabiting for at least one year, with partners who had never smoked or had not used tobacco in one year. Both treatments included seven weekly sessions and 8-weeks of nicotine replacement therapy. Participants were followed for six months post-treatment. The Partner Interaction Questionnaire (PIQ) was used to measure perceived smoking-specific partner support. Results Participants were 67% male and 88% White. Biochemically-verified cessation rates were 40.9%, 50% and 45% in BCT-S, and 59.1%, 50%, and 55% in ST, at end of treatment, 3-, and 6-months, respectively, and did not differ significantly between treatment conditions at any time point (all p’s > .05). Perceived smoking-specific partner support at post-treatment did not significantly differ between treatment groups (M=2.45, SD .81 in BCT-S; M=2.27, SD .92 in ST; t(38) = .67, p = .51). Conclusions Results of this pilot study do not provide support for the efficacy of BCT in smoking discordant couples.

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Do men grow to resemble their wives, or vice versa?

Cited by 27 publications

References 9 publications

Assortative mating for relative weight: Genetic implications

Assortative mating for relative weight: Genetic implications

Spousal influence on smoking behaviors in a US community sample of newly married couples

Behavioral couples therapy for smoking cessation: A pilot randomized clinical trial.

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