Abstract

Married couples tend to resemble each other in psychological and physical traits. The tendency of getting married with similar others is called assortative mating or homogamy. The present article deals with three issues of human assortative mating in psychological and physical characteristics. First, what are the estimates of assortative mating coefficients in cognitive abilities, education, personality traits, social attitudes, values, height, weight, and Body Mass Index? Secondly, is the observed similarity between spouses due to initial similarity, or to convergence during marriage as a result of shared environments and experiences? Finally, why do couples tend to assort? Studies of assortative mating have revealed considerable variability in spouse correlations across traits. Education and social attitudes showed strong assortative mating coefficients ranging from .50 to .70. For intelligence, assortative mating coefficients were generally between .30 and .40; and for values, they were between .20 and .30. Assortative mating coefficients for physical characteristics and personality traits were mostly less than .30 or close to zero. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of assortative mating suggest that observed spouse similarities were due to initial similarities rather than a consequence of the convergence during marriage. At present there are two major theories of assortative mating: phenotypic homogamy vs. social homogamy. The former asserts that spouse correlations are the result of mates selecting each other on the basis of similarities in observable characteristics (phenotypes), whereas the latter asserts that spouse correlations are the result of mates having been reared and met within the same social environment. Empirical studies that support phenotypic homogamy and social homogamy have been discussed.