Spouse similarity in American and Swedish couples

Price, Richard A.; Vandenberg, Steven G.

doi:10.1007/bf01067319

Cited by 203 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

124

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As indicated in Table 3, spouse correlations changed very little after removing age effects, indicating that age effects on spouse similarity are minimal for height, weight, BMI, educational level and personality traits. These results were consistent with previous studies of assortative marriage using Western samples (e.g., Mascie-Taylor & Vandenberg, 1989;Price & Vandenberg, 1980). Spouse correlations for height, weight, and BMI were very small (age-adjusted r = .04 to .11) and mostly nonsignificant.…”

Section: Spouse Correlationssupporting

confidence: 92%

Assortative Mating for Personality Traits, Educational Level, Religious Affiliation, Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in Parents of a Korean Twin Sample

Hur¹

2003

Twin Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

T he degree of assortative mating for psychological and physical traits in Asian societies is relatively unknown. The present study examined assortative mating for educational level, personality traits, religious affiliation, height, weight, and body mass index in a Korean sample. Age-adjusted spouse correlations were high for educational level (r = .63) and religious affiliation (r = .67), modest for most personality traits ( r s = -.01 to .26), and trivial for height (r = .04), weight (r = .05), and body mass index (r = .11). These results were remarkably similar to those found from the western samples. Implications of the present findings in behavior genetic studies and human mating patterns were briefly discussed.Assortative mating is the tendency for spouses to resemble each other more than expected by chance. Assortative mating can affect the genetic structure of a population by increasing genetic variance and covariance (Cavalli-Sforza & Bodmer, 1971;Crow & Felsenstein, 1982) and natural selection (Eckland, 1982). Behavior geneticists have long been interested in assortative mating because it influences heritability estimates in twin and family studies by increasing genetic resemblance between first-degree relatives. Assortative mating has been documented for a variety of variables. In general, age, race, religion, and ethnic background show the strongest assortment. These are followed by education (spouse r = 0.50-0.65) and attitudes (spouse r = 0.50-.60) and then by mental abilities (spouse r = 0.30-0.40), socioeconomic status (spouse r = 0.30), height, weight, and body mass index (spouse r = 0-0.30), and personality traits (spouse r = 0-0.25). Reviews of studies of assortative mating can be found in Vandenberg (1972), Jensen (1978), Spuhler (1982, Grilo andPogue-Geile (1991), andHur (2001).The vast majority of studies of assortative mating have been conducted using couples from western societies and, therefore, the degree of assortment in non-western cultures is relatively unknown. The purpose of the present study is to examine degrees of assortative mating in Korean couples on personality traits, educational level, religious affiliation, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI). In Asian societies arranged marriages are still common, which may cause degrees of spouse resemblance in Asian societies to be different from those found in the western world. Because the number of twin and family studies using Asian populations is increasing, the present data provide important information for understanding genetic and environmental influences on psychological and physical traits estimated from Asian populations. Method SampleThe sample consists of parents of the elementary school twins who participated in the Seoul Twin Family Study (STFS). The STFS is a large, longitudinal twin family study of genetic and environmental influences on the development of cognitive abilities and other psychological traits in children and adolescents in Seoul, Korea. Twins and their parents in the STFS were ascertained systemati...

show abstract

Section: Spouse Correlationssupporting

confidence: 92%

Assortative Mating for Personality Traits, Educational Level, Religious Affiliation, Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in Parents of a Korean Twin Sample

Hur¹

2003

Twin Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Compatibility theories of relationship functioning suggest that partners in more harmonious relationships tend to have many similar characteristics (Levinger and Rands, 1985). For example, married partners tend to be similar in terms of sociodemographic characteristics (Bentler and Newcomb, 1978), age, height, weight (Price and Vandenberg, 1980), food preferences (Kolonel and Lee, 1981), health behaviors , leisure interests (Houts et al, 1996), attitudes, religiosity, values (Luo and Klohnen, 2005), and personality (Buss, 1984;Price and Vandenberg, 1980). Indeed, greater similarity in demographics and personality is associated with better marital functioning (Bentler and Newcomb, 1978;Kurdek, 1991).…”

Section: Concordant and Discrepant Heavy Drinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship-Specific Alcohol Expectancies in Couples With Concordant and Discrepant Drinking Patterns

Derrick

Leonard²,

Quigley³

et al. 2010

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT. Objective: Despite growing evidence that the marital problems typically attributed to heavy drinking are stronger for couples in which only one partner is a heavy drinker than in couples in which both partners are heavy drinkers, relatively little research has examined factors that may serve to maintain particular drinking confi gurations. The current research examines the association between the confi guration of partners' drinking and relationship-specifi c alcohol expectancies. Method: Data are from an ongoing prospective study examining the effect of alcohol on executive cognitive functioning. Participant couples (n = 251) represented one of four drinking groups: concordant heavy drinkers (n = 68), heavy drinking husband (n = 79), heavy drinking wife (n = 35), and concordant abstainers/light drinkers (n = 69). As part of the study, participant couples completed a measure of relationshipspecific alcohol expectancies through the mail. Results: Analyses reveal that wives demonstrate greater intimacy/openness expectancies in the concordant heavy drinking group than in the other three groups, as predicted. Unexpectedly, husbands demonstrate greater intimacy/ openness expectancies if either member of the couple is a heavy drinker. Additionally, couples reported stronger sexual enhancement, power/assertion, and social pleasure/fun expectancies when the wife was a heavy drinker and stronger power/assertion expectancies when the husband was a heavy drinker. Conclusions: Relationship-specifi c alcohol expectancies are differentially associated with the confi guration of partners' drinking patterns. Wives' drinking status appears to infl uence relationship-specifi c alcohol expectancies to a greater extent than husbands' drinking status. Additional research is needed to determine the long-term effect of these associations. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 71, 761-768, 2010)

show abstract

“…With respect to the resemblance in intake between spouses, partner selection and convergence of habits over the years are both important (Price & Vandenberg, 1980). Qualitative research in the ®eld of the transfer of nutritional habits is considered important to reveal norms and patterns of in¯uences within families.…”

Section: Gij Feunekes Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

Family resemblance in fat intake in the Netherlands

et al. 1997

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: To assess family resemblance in fat intake in a representative sample of Dutch families. Design and subjects: Households (n 1077) with children between 1 and 30 y old were selected from the data set of the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey 1992. Two-day diet records were available for all household members. Results: Pearson correlation coef®cients for fat and fatty acid intakes (En%) ranged from r 0.51 to r 0.61 between parents, and from r 0.52 to r 0.72 between siblings. The mean associations in fat and fatty acid intake (En%) between mothers or fathers and children ranged from r 0.37 to r 0.50, and they were surprisingly similar for children from 1±3 y of age up to children above 21 y of age. Associations were consistently high for foods eaten at home, and weak for foods eaten outside of the home. Similar within-family associations were found in a set of 1052 households of the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey of 1987. Reported adherence to a therapeutic diet by one of the parents did not erase within-family intake correlations, suggesting that family resemblance is a dynamic phenomenon. Conclusion: Dutch parents and children living together resemble each other in short term intake of fats and fatty acids. Sponsorship: This study was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries.

show abstract

Spouse similarity in American and Swedish couples

Cited by 203 publications

References 9 publications

Assortative Mating for Personality Traits, Educational Level, Religious Affiliation, Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in Parents of a Korean Twin Sample

Assortative Mating for Personality Traits, Educational Level, Religious Affiliation, Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in Parents of a Korean Twin Sample

Relationship-Specific Alcohol Expectancies in Couples With Concordant and Discrepant Drinking Patterns

Family resemblance in fat intake in the Netherlands

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About