Assortative Mating for Psychopathy Components and its Effects on the Relationship Quality in Intimate Partners

In three studies, we examined assortative mating for psychopathy components as well as its effects on the relationship quality in intimate partners. Compared to the original structure we confirmed three factors of psychopathy: criminal tendencies (CT), erratic lifestyle (ELS) and interpersonal manipulation (IM), while callous affect (CA) was not replicated. Hypotheses regarding positive versus negative assortment, initial assortment versus convergence, and active assortment versus social homogamy were tested. All hypotheses were examined using both variable-centered approach (VCA) and couple-centered approach (CCA). We found moderate positive assortment between intimate partners in psychopathy as a latent construct estimated by structural modelling. Furthermore, positive assortment for all three components of psychopathy was found either by using only VCA (CT), only CCA (IM) or both approaches (ELS). Additionally, initial assortment rather than convergence hypothesis and active assortment rather than social homogamy hypothesis was confirmed for all three psychopathy components, with a slight tendency towards divergence and social homogamy. We explored the effects of similarity in psychopathy components on the women and men' relationship quality by using profile similarity and polynomial regression analyses. Profile similarity in IM was significantly positively related to women's relationship quality, while the results of the polynomial regression analyses were more complex, and showed that only (dis)similarity in CT did not exert any effect on women and men's relationship quality. Greater disagreement between women and men's ELS was related with more sharp decrease of women's relationship quality, while men's relationship quality decreased at the higher levels of women and men's ELS. Greater disagreement between women and men's IM results in a lower women's relationship quality, while women and men's relationship quality was higher when women's IM was higher than men's.

Marital resemblance for obsessive–compulsive, anxious and depressive symptoms in a population-based sample

BackgroundResemblance between spouses can be due to phenotypic assortment, social homogamy and/or marital interaction. A significant degree of assortment can have consequences for the genetic architecture of a population. We examined the existence and cause(s) of assortment for obsessive–compulsive (OC), anxious and depressive symptoms in a population-based twin-family sample.MethodOC, anxious and depressive symptoms were measured in around 1400 twin–spouse pairs and >850 parent pairs. Correlations of twins and their spouse, twin and co-twin's spouse, spouses of both twins and parents of twins were obtained to consider phenotypic assortment versus social homogamy as possible causes of marital resemblance. The association of length of relationship with marital resemblance was also investigated. Finally, we examined whether within-trait or cross-trait processes play a primarily role in marital resemblance.ResultsSmall but significant within-trait correlations of between 0.1 and 0.2 were seen for spouse similarity in OC, anxious and depressive symptoms. Cross-correlations were significant but lower. There was no correlation between length of relationship and marital resemblance. From the pattern of correlations for twin–spouse, co-twin–spouse and spouses of both twins, phenotypic assortment could not be distinguished from social homogamy. Both within- and cross-assortment processes play a role in marital resemblance.ConclusionsSmall within- and across-trait correlations exist for OC, anxious and depressive symptoms. No evidence for marital interaction was found. Spouse correlations are small, which makes it difficult to distinguish between social homogamy and phenotypic assortment. It is unlikely that correlations of this size will have a large impact on genetic studies.

Deciding Whom to Marry in a Rural Two-Class Society: Social Homogamy and Constraints in the Marriage Market in Rendalen, Norway, 1750–1900

This article presents the findings of a long-term study of social homogamy in the rural community of Rendalen, Norway, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Prior to 1870, the occupation of parents was not normally recorded in the Norwegian parish registers. It is therefore difficult to carry out historical studies of social homogamy in Norway over any length of time. The Rendalen database, however, provides this information from several other sources. Structural changes over time, which led to an increase in the number of farm workers, reduced the degree of homogamy among farmers as well as creating a larger marriage market for the farm workers, thereby increasing homogamy among these farm workers. Controlling for these structural changes, it is clear that social boundaries between farmers and farm workers prevailed at least until the end of the nineteenth century. Using a multivariate analysis, we are able to identify different family characteristics that led young men and woman to marry homogamously. The farmers, especially, exerted influence on their eldest sons to marry farmers' daughters, but the role of the father in the mating process also secured more economically viable partners for the other children too.