Opposites attract, only in rare cases: Study

Contrary to the popular theory that opposites attract, a new study including data from millions of couples finds that this happens only in rare cases.

The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, confirms what individual studies have hinted at for decades, defying the age-old adage that “opposites attract”. For between 82 per cent and 89 per cent of traits analysed - ranging from political leanings to age of first intercourse to substance use habits - partners were more likely than not to be similar.

For only 3 per cent of traits, and only in one part of their analysis, did individuals tend to partner with those who were different from them. “Our findings demonstrate that birds of a feather are indeed more likely to flock together,” said first author Tanya Horwitz, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG) at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Aside from shedding light on unseen forces that may shape human relationships, the research has important implications for the field of genetic research. “A lot of models in genetics assume that human mating is random. This study shows this assumption is probably wrong,” said senior author and IBG Director Matt Keller, noting that what is known as “assortative mating” - when individuals with similar traits couple up -can skew findings of genetic studies. IANS

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