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Genetics

Trait correlations in human couples

Nature Human Behaviour volume 7, pages 1420–1421 (2023)Cite this article

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People tend to form partnerships with others who are similar to themselves. A new meta-analysis examines correlations between human mating partners, and finds correlations across nearly every trait studied. Education, social attitudes and substance use showed the highest correlations. Effect sizes differed between studies, suggesting potential cultural contingency.

Social and biological research has shown that partners match on a multitude of traits related to attitudes, education and health. This pattern of non-random partnership, termed ‘assortative mating’, has received considerable research attention as it may shape population characteristics1. Moreover, assortative mating may bias genetic estimates derived from study designs that assume random mating, including twin-based heritability estimates and DNA-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Therefore, it is important to study the magnitude of partner correlation across a wide variety of traits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Research Group Biosocial – Biology, Social Disparities, and Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Yayouk E. Willems & Laurel Raffington

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  1. Yayouk E. Willems
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  2. Laurel Raffington
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Correspondence to Yayouk E. Willems.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Willems, Y.E., Raffington, L. Trait correlations in human couples. Nat Hum Behav 7, 1420–1421 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01673-y

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