Marital satisfaction in four cultures as a function of homogamy, male dominance and female attractiveness

Abstract

Abstract Mate choice and mate retention may both depend in part on the principle of homogamy, or positive assortative mating. In humans, the more similar couples are, the happier and more stable their relationships are. However, the practice of homogamy in mate selection must be balanced against the need to select qualities in a mate that are slightly different from one's own, and evolutionary theory has suggested that male dominance and female attractiveness are two particularly adaptive qualities that are sought in a mate. The present study investigated the relationship between marital satisfaction and homogamy in American, British, Chinese and Turkish couples. In addition, the present research assessed the evolutionary hypothesis that spousal ascendancies on dominance and attractiveness would relate to marital satisfaction. Cross-culturally, romantic love for ones spouse increased as a function of both homogamy and some evolutionarily predicted divergences on both dominance and attractiveness. However, marital satisfaction also benefited from some ascendancies that were contrary to the predictions of evolutionary theory, suggesting that self interest and cultural criteria may also guide preferences for spousal ascendancy. The present research provides for debate concerning the cross-cultural use of evolutionary hypotheses as predictors of marital satisfaction, while also suggesting unique cultural criteria for positive assortative mating. Keywords: homogamyattractivenessevolutiondominancemarital satisfaction Acknowledgements Portions of this research were presented at the May 2002 annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association (Chicago, IL) and the August 2002 biennial meeting of the International Society for Human Ethology (Montreal, QC). We are grateful to Donyell Coleman, Nicole Nowak, Yobany Pardo, Robin J.H. Russell, and Pamela A. Wells for their contributions to this research. Notes The analytical strategy used presently differs slightly from that which was used in the authors' previous research (Weisfeld et al. ). In the prior analysis of British couples, a single regression containing both linear and quadratic components was conducted for each comparison of interest and the beta weight for both components was interpreted as reflecting the entirety of the respective trend. However, Pedhazur () notes that beta weights in polynomial regressions "do not lend themselves to easy interpretation" in that the quadratic vector also represents some portion of the linear trend. Thus, a single beta weight does not represent the entire quadratic trend. The hierarchical regression strategy used presently, in which a dual interpretation of linear and quadratic beta weights is used to describe the nonlinear component, is a more appropriate analytical strategy.