The Role of Active Assortment in Spousal Similarity

Abstract

Previous research has established the existence of active assortment, that is, a preference for similarity in a potential mate. Few studies, however, have directly related mate preferences to dyadic similarity by examining them in the same participants. We collected both similarity and mate preference data in two studies: undergraduate students (N = 519) and newlyweds (N = 335). In both studies, women placed a higher value on desirable personality characteristics (e.g., higher Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, lower Neuroticism) than did men. Nevertheless, our data also provided strong evidence of consensual mate preferences: Men and women both desired partners who were agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable, intelligent, and physically attractive; furthermore, participants desired partners who were better (e.g., more agreeable and attractive) than they were. In contrast, attitudinal variables such as religiousness and political orientation displayed much weaker consensus but showed significant dyadic similarity in both samples; similarity coefficients for personality tended to be positive, but lower. Finally, analyses revealed a direct link between actual and desired similarity: Couples displayed the strongest similarity on those variables for which participants expressed the strongest preference for similarity. Our findings strongly suggest that active assortment is partly responsible for dyadic similarity.

Similar to And/Or Better than Oneself? Singles’ Ideal Partner Personality Descriptions

“…Lee et al, ; Liu, Ludeke, & Zettler, ), we found robust support for similarity preference for it. At the same time, and relatively consistent with previous work (Figueredo et al, ; Watson et al, ), we did not observe a strong preference concerning different levels in Openness ascribed to one's ideal partner as compared with oneself. We see two potential explanations for this.…”

“…Additionally, our results suggest that singles (when asked via questionnaires) tended to exhibit aspirational assortative preference in their ideal partners concerning Honesty–Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Consciousness. Singles did not indicate a preference for higher nor lower trait levels in Openness in their ideal partners compared with themselves, which both mirrors previous findings in general (Figueredo et al, ; Watson et al, ) and matches its unique status as the only Big Five trait with no connection to relationship satisfaction (Malouff et al, ).…”

“…Both traits are marginally, if at all, related to personal values (Lee et al, ) but appear to have a desirable direction in ideal partner ratings (i.e. low Emotionality and high Extraversion; Watson et al, ). Correspondingly, we found less support for similarity preference but strong support for aspirational assortative preference for these traits across the Studies 1–4.…”

“…One preference can be termed similarity preference , suggesting that ‘individuals feel most attracted to potential partners who, in important domains, are similar to themselves’ (Dijkstra & Barelds, , p. 595). Another preference can be termed aspirational assortative preference , suggesting that ‘people ideally prefer partners with trait characteristics that are similar to—but better than—those that they themselves possess’ (Watson, Beer, & McDade‐Montez, , p. 118). For the first time, the current investigation explores both preferences using the HEXACO Model of Personality (Ashton & Lee, ), because the HEXACO model provides a viable theoretical framework to understand potential differences in the degree to which basic personality traits are linked to similarity preference and aspirational assortative preference, respectively.…”

Who is open to a narcissistic romantic partner? The roles of sensation seeking, trait anxiety, and similarity

“…The lacking assortative mating for these three broad personality traits in the current research is in line with other publications (e.g., Botwin et al, 1997;Montoya et al, 2008;Watson, Beer, & McDade-Montez, 2014;Watson et al, 2004). The present findings and other recent findings demonstrating similarity effects for Psychopathy, Machiavellianism (Smith et al, 2014), and antisocial behavior (Krueger, Moffitt, Caspi, Bleske, & Silva, 1998) suggest that assortative mating might be relatively stronger for "dark" traits.…”