January 17, 2013

Assortative mating for height in the UK

PLoS ONE 8(1): e54186. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054186

Are Human Mating Preferences with Respect to Height Reflected in Actual Pairings?

Gert Stulp et al.

Pair formation, acquiring a mate to form a reproductive unit, is a complex process. Mating preferences are a step in this process. However, due to constraining factors such as availability of mates, rival competition, and mutual mate choice, preferred characteristics may not be realised in the actual partner. People value height in their partner and we investigated to what extent preferences for height are realised in actual couples. We used data from the Millennium Cohort Study (UK) and compared the distribution of height difference in actual couples to simulations of random mating to test how established mate preferences map on to actual mating patterns. In line with mate preferences, we found evidence for: (i) assortative mating (r = .18), (ii) the male-taller norm, and, for the first time, (iii) for the male-not-too-tall norm. Couples where the male partner was shorter, or over 25 cm taller than the female partner, occurred at lower frequency in actual couples than expected by chance, but the magnitude of these effects was modest. We also investigated another preference rule, namely that short women (and tall men) prefer large height differences with their partner, whereas tall women (and short men) prefer small height differences. These patterns were also observed in our population, although the strengths of these associations were weaker than previously reported strength of preferences. We conclude that while preferences for partner height generally translate into actual pairing, they do so only modestly.

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2 comments:

Wil said...

"constraining factors such as availability of mates, rival competition, and mutual mate choice" "We conclude that while preferences for partner height generally translate into actual pairing, they do so only modestly."
This isn't saying much other than people "settle" for less than their ideal mate. No big surprise here.

Grey said...

If there's a preference for a height difference but not too much then another another question might be would a population where assortative mating has been going on a long time hit some kind of balance over time?

If so what might be the result of the same study in a population where selection on height was much more recent (e.g. where until a generation or so ago marriages were arranged by the family or where recent height increases from nutrition created a wider range of heights to choose from)?