Personality trait similarity in recently cohabiting couples: Partner choice, convergence, or selective breakup?

IF 6.4 1区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

Journal of personality and social psychology Pub Date : 2024-10-17 DOI:10.1037/pspp0000527

Manon A van Scheppingen,Gabriel Olaru,Thomas Leopold

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Abstract

Romantic partners tend to be more similar in self-reported personality traits than would be expected by chance. This similarity can be due to the choice of a similar partner, partners becoming more similar to each other over time, or dissimilar couples breaking up. To examine whether these processes (choice, convergence, or breakup) explain personality trait similarities in couples, we followed a sample of 1,180 German couples (N = 2,360 individuals; age range = 17-82 years old) from right after moving in together (ranging from 0 to 4 years after) up to 16 years thereafter. Using bivariate latent growth curve models, we found that couples were already similar in openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness in the first years of moving in together. Although couples showed correlated change in conscientiousness, this did not increase similarity. Response surface analyses showed that separation risk was generally unrelated to dissimilarity. Furthermore, romantic partners did not become more dissimilar in the years before separation. Taken together, these results suggest that personality similarity in cohabiting couples is fully driven by choosing a similar partner. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research on personality similarity in romantic relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

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新近同居伴侣的人格特质相似性：伴侣选择、趋同还是选择性分手？

浪漫的伴侣在自我报告的人格特质方面往往比偶然预期的更为相似。这种相似性可能是由于选择了相似的伴侣，伴侣之间随着时间的推移变得更加相似，或者是由于不同的伴侣分手。为了研究这些过程（选择、趋同或分手）是否能解释情侣间人格特质的相似性，我们对 1180 对德国情侣（样本数 = 2360 人；年龄范围 = 17-82 岁）进行了跟踪调查，调查时间从刚同居（0 到 4 年）开始，直到同居后的 16 年。通过使用二元潜增长曲线模型，我们发现，在同居后的最初几年，夫妻双方在开放性、自觉性、外向性和合意性方面已经很相似。虽然夫妻双方在自觉性方面出现了相关变化，但这并没有增加相似性。响应面分析表明，分离风险一般与相似性无关。此外，在分居前的几年里，恋爱伴侣的相似性并没有增加。综上所述，这些结果表明，同居伴侣的人格相似性完全是由选择相似伴侣所驱动的。我们将讨论这些发现对恋爱关系中人格相似性理论和研究的影响。(PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, 版权所有）。

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来源期刊

Journal of personality and social psychology PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

12.70

自引率

3.90%

发文量

250

期刊介绍： Journal of personality and social psychology publishes original papers in all areas of personality and social psychology and emphasizes empirical reports, but may include specialized theoretical, methodological, and review papers.Journal of personality and social psychology is divided into three independently edited sections. Attitudes and Social Cognition addresses all aspects of psychology (e.g., attitudes, cognition, emotion, motivation) that take place in significant micro- and macrolevel social contexts.