Social Homogamy Research Articles

Models of spouse similarity: Applications to fluid ability measured in twins and their spouses

Genetic influences have consistently been reported to be the principal explanation for resemblance among relatives for intelligence, with shared environmental effects playing a much smaller role. However, crucial to understanding the nature of environmental influences are the mechanisms of assortative mating. Phenotypic assortment, albeit widely assumed or modeled in biometrical analyses, may be less important than other assortment processes, such as social homogamy. Consequently, effects of shared environment may play a greater role than prior studies have suggested. The goal of this study was to resolve environmental and genetic influences on fluid ability based on alternative models of assortment by examining the similarity of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins and their spouses. Raven's Progressive Matrices scores were available from a population-based Swedish sample of 138 twin kinships. The effects of both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment were tested simultaneously in each of two alternate assortment models. A factor/delta path model represented social homogamy as a common factor and phenotypic assortment as a delta path, while a delta/delta path model represented both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment as delta paths. Overall, the factor/delta path model was found to be superior. Results suggested that social homogamy completely explained spouse similarity; phenotypic assortment was not significant. The results of these analyses suggest the presence of shared environmental effects among twins and their spouses, which would have been underestimated if only phenotypic modeled phenotypic assortment may have underestimated the effects of environment.

Compatibility and the Development of Premarital Relationships

This study contributes to the literature on compatibility in courtship by seeking to identify empirical links between social homogamy, similarity in leisure interests and role performance preferences, and the dynamics of premarital relationships. Data were collected from 168 working-class and middle-class couples married for the first time in central Pennsylvania during the early 1980s. The more similar individuals' role performance preferences and leisure interests were to those of the other sex in the sample, the more compatible they were with the person they married. Nonetheless, even after controlling for how likely individuals were to find a compatible mate in the population of other-sex persons, people tended to be better matched than they would have been had they been randomly paired (i.e., assortative mating appears to be raking place on the basis of leisure interests and role performance preferences). Assortative mating also was found with regard to social characteristics age, education, religion), but such social similarity was related neither to similarity in couples' leisure interests nor to their role preferences, and, with one exception, social similarity was not significantly related to their courtship experiences and evaluations. Similarity in leisure interests and compatible role preferences, however, were related both to partners' subjective evaluations of their courtships (i.e., love, ambivalence) and to how they reportedly interacted with each other (i.e., conflict, efforts to enhance the quality of the relationship). In the conclusion, we place our findings within the context of previous writings on compatibility and mate selection and argue for the importance of establishing empirical linkages between various combinations of the partners' social and psychological attributes and their courtship experiences. Compatibility theories of mate selection suggest that individuals who are well matched on key characteristics marry each other, in part, because such matching increases the likelihood that they will be able to establish a mellifluous and mutually satisfying partnership (Huston, Surra, Fitzgerald, & Cate, 1981; Levinger & Rands, 1985). The standard paradigm for studying the role of compatibility in courtship focuses on. whether people who marry are more similar than would be expected by chance, rather than examining the connection between compatibility and courtship processes. Couples may tend to be homogamous in social characteristics, however, because society is organized in such a way that people meet and interact with others who are similar in these characteristics. Moreover, individuals whose characteristics are common in the population are apt to be better matched than others. These effects of propinquity and individual attributes on the extent of matching must be distinguished from the tendency, if any, for people to express preferences for social similarity through choices made among a pool of diverse others. One line of research bearing on this issue examines how distributions of social attributes in the population affect the likelihood that people will marry someone who is socially similar (e.g., Blau, Beeker, & Fitzpatrick, 1984; Blau, Blum, & Schwartz, 1982; Glenn, 1984; Schoen & Wooldredge, 1989; see Surra, 1990, for an integrative review). The causal impact of social homogamy on the interpersonal dynamics of courtship, however, has yet to be explored. The present study seeks to contribute to understanding how compatibility affects courtship and mate selection. Social homogamy may account, in part, for psychological similarity and, as a result, have an indirect impact on both courtship processes and mate selection outcomes. Therefore, this study examines the extent of association between social homogamy and psychological dispositions that seem particularly germane to courtship (Levinger & Rands, 1985). These psychological dispositions are then linked to features of the premarital relationship such as the amount of conflict, the amount of turbulence during courtship, and how deeply the individuals reportedly fall in love. …

Phenotypic assortment versus social homogamy for personality, education, attitudes, and language use

As part of a follow-up study of offspring who participated in the Hawaii Family Study of Cognition (HFSC) from 1972 to 1976, 40 pairs of now-adult siblings of Caucasian ancestry, including 23 pairs where one sibling spouse was also tested and 17 pairs where both sibling spouses were tested, and 36 pairs of siblings of Japanese ancestry, including 26 pairs where one sibling spouse was also tested and 10 pairs where both sibling spouses were tested, were administered the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Comrey-Newmeyer Radicalness-Consevatism Scale and reported on their years of education and pidgin and standard English use. Model-fitting analyses using delta paths suggested no significant degree of assortative mating for EPQ Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism. Assortment for the EPQ Lie Scale, Radicalness-Consevatism, education, and language use was found to be mostly due to active phenotypic assortment, with significant effects of social homogamy found for Radicalness-Conservatism and pidgin use. These latter findings contrast with the stronger effects of social homogamy on assortative mating found for Japanese and Chinese ancestry sibling-spouse pairs in the HFSC parent generation.

Correlations between identical twins and their spouses suggest social homogamy for intelligence in Norway

Selected tests of cognitive ability were given to a sample of 137 pairs of identical twins and their spouses. Generally, scores of siblings-in-law and scores of each of the cotwins' spouses were as highly correlated as scores in spouses. This correlation pattern is in agreement with the notion of social homogamy, that is, spouse similarity reflects mate selection within social homogenous groups, not selection for similarity in the trait (intelligence) itself. It also fits with a model for assortative mating and a high cotwin resemblance for mate preferences, causing twins to select similar spouses.

Assortative mating for cultural identification as indicated by language use

Persons of Japanese ancestry from Hawaii who marry within their own racial/ethnic group show a significant degree of homogamous assortative mating for "pidgin" and for standard English usage, variables reflective of important cultural differences in Hawaii. Persons of Japanese ancestry who married persons of other racial/ethnic groups had less exposure to pidgin in their parental homes and were less likely to speak this dialect of English. Sibling-spouse analyses suggested that assortment for such language use is entirely due to social homogamy rather than active phenotypic assortment.

Familial transmission of longevity

The Tau model of phenotypic transmission has been used to analyze the familial correlations (nuclear families and extended families) of longevity at Arthez d'Asson (individuals born between 1686 and 1899). At birth, the transmissibility (t2) is very weak: 0.103; at 20 years old, t2 = 0.167; at 50 years old, t2 = 0.294. The effect of sibling environment on children's phenotype is s = 0.086 at birth, is thus null. A cohabitional effect between spouses: p = 0.167 appears after 50 years. There is no social homogamy effect via grandparents.

The effects of social homogamy and cultural inheritance on the covariances of twins and their parents: a LISREL model.

In general, models involving parent-offspring transmission are not possible to specify in LISREL due to the complex constraints implied by assortative mating and genotype-environmental correlation. In this short note we describe one simple model of resemblance among twins and their parents which can be accommodated in the LISREL specification due to the strong assumption of social homogamy. The specification is described fully and checked for identification, and its power to resolve different parameters is briefly examined.

Phenotypic assortative mating vs. social homogamy among Japanese and Chinese parents in the Hawaii Family Study of Cognition.

Among the subjects of Japanese and Chinese ancestries in the parent generation in the Hawaii Family Study of Cognition were 47 pairs of siblings. Since data were available on the spouses of these siblings, this allowed for tests of whether spouse correlations of educational and occupational attainment and cognitive abilities were due to active phenotypic assortment and/or shared social background (social homogamy). Comparisons of sibling correlations, spouse correlations, and correlations between the spouse of one sibling and the spouse of the other sibling, as well as the results of model-fitting analyses, suggest that spouse correlations for education are determined by both phenotypic assortment and social homogamy, spouse correlations for occupational attainment by phenotypic assortment, and spouse correlations for verbal ability mostly by social homogamy.

Multivariate path analysis of familial resemblance.

A method is presented for applying path analysis to general multivariate models of familial resemblance. In path models formulated using this approach, variables are defined as column vectors, path coefficients are defined as matrices of path coefficients, and correlations are defined as matrices of correlations. By applying a few simple rules for multivariate path analysis, general multivariate expected correlations can be derived from a path diagram which is essentially as simple as a univariate diagram and which can be used to analyze any number of variables. Multivariate expected correlations for three models of familial resemblance are derived, with particular attention given to the modeling of assortative mating: nuclear families with a phenotypic homogamy model of assortative mating, nuclear families with a social homogamy model of assortative mating, and twins and their parents with phenotypic homogamy. These models are applicable to many of the types of studies commonly undertaken in genetic epidemiology. The simplicity of the technique facilitates analyses of the etiology of variation and covariation among variables measured in such studies.

A Measure of Social Homogamy

A Measure of Social Homogamy

AGGREGATION OF BLOOD PRESSURE IN THE FAMILIES OF IDENTICAL TWINS

The multiple relationships which exist within families of adult monozygotic (MZ) twins permit evaluation of genetic and environmental variance and provide a direct test of maternal effects. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured in 610 members of the families of 76 MZ twin pairs. Age and sex effects on BP were removed via a Z-transformation. Correlations for SBP were .72 for MZ twins and .23 for full siblings. Regression of offspring on single parent was .26. The husband-wife correlation was significant, but it was no higher than the resemblance of a twin to the spouse of his co-twin. Comparisons of maternal and paternal half-siblings provide no evidence of maternal influences on SBP. To evaluate whether familial resemblance of BP is mediated by body size, the original systolic pressures were adjusted by stepwise multiple regression of age, sex, height, weight and skinfold thickness. Adjusting BP for effects of body size reduced regression of offspring on mid-parent from .40 to .23. The authors conclude that familial aggregation of systolic pressure reflects additive genetic variance mediated, in part, by body size and augmented by social homogamy arising from non-random mating.

Path analysis under generalized assortative mating. I. Theory.

SUMMARYAssortative mating is generalized to include social homogamy and phenotypic homogamy as two special cases. This generalization, called mixed homogamy, enables tests of hypotheses on the nature of assortment. Cultural inheritance is also extended to include two components: transmitted from parental environments, and non-transmitted sibship environment. Familial correlations are derived for a variety of relationships under mixed homogamy.

Sex-Ethnic Marriage in Hawaii: A Nonmetric Multidimensional Analysis

High ethnic intermarriage rates have long been characteristic of Hawaii. These rates have often been pointed to as another indicator of assimilation in these islands. This analysis explores the dimensions of ethnic inand intermarriage for two time periods: 1948-1953 and 1965-1969. The research question asked is: what are the common elements that predispose males and females to marry in and out of their ethnic groups. Utilizing a mapping sentence and Nonmetric Multidimensional Analysis, sex and ethnicity of the marriage partners are mapped into the same structural space for each time period. The findings depicted spacially show two general clusters. One cluster consists of Japanese, Chinese and Korean males and females. The other cluster consists of Caucasian, part-Hawaiian, Hawaiian, Filipino, and Puerto Rican males and females. These clusters are termed East and West, respectively. These findings suggest that the East cluster ethnic groups, regardless of sex, prefer other East cluster ethnic groups and vice versa. In general, this interpretation lends support to the idea of social homogamy on a broader level than ethnicity.

The Communist Chinese Attitude Towards Inter-Class Marriage

Since the change of political régime on the Chinese mainland in 1949, new values and attitudes have been consciously introduced by the Communist Party. The family institution has undergone a rather drastic alteration not only in form but also in composition, structure, roles of its members and especially in values and patterns of mate selection and marital adjustment. According to traditional Chinese social values, one should marry a person of relatively similar social background consistent with the concept of homogamy discussed by Burgess and his associates. The traditional Chinese sentiment often referred to the marriage of two individuals whose family front doors faced each other as a good match, implying that they had matched family backgrounds in residence, social class, occupations, education, economic status and other values held important in pre-Communist China. The strong emphasis laid by the Communist Party on indoctrinating every citizen in the political ideology of socialism and communism in true totalitarian form covers every phase of his life, including that of marriage. In the course of Communist rule, slightly more than a decade, this political emphasis has often come in direct conflict with the traditional value of social homogamy in mate selection and marriage.

"Birds of a Feather Flock Together"

Pierre Bourdieu considered that social capital was one of the main forms of capital, along with cultural and economic capital. Yet, in his entire work, Bourdieu dedicates no more than two pages to social capital, which he called “provisional observations” (“notes provisoires”). However, these two pages are essential because they suggest a research program that has never been implemented empirically. This article seeks to contribute to such a program in two ways. Firstly, it offers a theoretical and methodological discussion of the “notes provisoires” that calls for using both relational and interactionist approaches in the analysis of social capital. Secondly, it offers an empirical application of the model outlined in the “notes provisoires” and assesses the empirical relevance of two hypotheses that Bourdieu formulated about the operation of social capital : social homogamy and the multiplier effect. The data used is drawn from field research on the economic subfield represented by the restaurant industry in the city of Lille, in northern France, This professional environment is characterized by the contradiction between two irreconcilable nomos : the pursuit of economic interests and the pursuit of gastronomic awards that are hardly profitable.