- The scientists found that political opinions and religious attitudes coincide in couples.
- Romantic partners were also likely to use similar substances
- Scientists Analyzed 130 Personality Traits in Millions of Couples
Whether it’s Jack and Rose in Titanic or Danny and Sandy in Grease, we’ve been led to believe that opposites attract.
But analysis of more than 130 personality traits from millions of couples suggests that the saying simply isn’t true.
“Our findings show that birds of the same featherage are more likely to clump together,” said lead author Tanya Horwitz, of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
His team in the United States combined data from almost 200 previous studies dating back to 1903 with their own analysis.
They examined dozens of traits in couples, including parenting, married, engaged, and couples living together.
The scientists found that traits such as political and religious attitudes, education level, and certain measures of intelligence were very similar between couples (Stock)
The partners were also likely to share traits related to substance use: heavy smokers, drinkers, and teetotalers were strongly likely to mate with those with similar habits (Stock).
They found that traits such as political and religious attitudes, education level, and certain measures of intelligence were very similar between couples.
The partners were also likely to share traits related to substance use: heavy smokers, drinkers and teetotalers were strongly likely to mate with those with similar habits.
The researchers found that there were also links between height, weight, medical conditions and personality traits.
The trait for which the couples were most likely to be similar was the year of birth.
But from their analysis, the team said there was “no compelling evidence” for any traits that attract opposites.
Overall, they found that between 82 and 89 percent of those tested, the couples were more likely to be similar.
In only 3 percent of the traits did individuals tend to associate with people who were different from themselves.
These included the chronotype: whether someone is a “morning lark” or a “night owl”.
“These findings suggest that even in situations where we feel we have choice over our relationships, there may be behind-the-scenes mechanisms that we are not fully aware of,” Ms Horwitz said.
The team, whose research appears in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, said that couples could share traits for a variety of reasons.
Some people are attracted to people who are similar to them, while others become more alike the more time they spend together.
However, there could be long-term consequences; For example, if short people are more likely to have children with other short people, there could be more height extremes in the next generation, they said.
Meanwhile, the union of people with people with similar educational backgrounds could be inadvertently widening the socioeconomic gap.
