The mechanism of assortative mating for educational attainment: a study of Finnish and Dutch twins and their spouses

Bodine M.A. Gonggrijp; Karri Silventoinen; Conor V. Dolan; Dorret I. Boomsma; Jaakko Kaprio; Gonneke Willemsen

doi:10.3389/fgene.2023.1150697

The mechanism of assortative mating for educational attainment: a study of Finnish and Dutch twins and their spouses

Bodine M.A. Gonggrijp^*, Karri Silventoinen, Conor V. Dolan, Dorret I. Boomsma, Jaakko Kaprio, Gonneke Willemsen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Introduction: Assortative mating refers describes a phenomenon in which individuals with similar phenotypic traits are more likely to mate and reproduce with each other; i.e. assortative mating occurs when individuals choose partners based on their similarity or dissimilarity in certain traits.to patterns of non-random mating of spouses leading to phenotypic resemblance. There are various theories about the its underlying mechanisms, which have different genetic consequences. Methods: We analyzed examined two possible mechanisms underlying assortative mating – phenotypic assortment and social homogamy – for educational attainment in two countries utilizing data of mono- and dizygotic twins and their spouses (1,451 Finnish and 1,616 Dutch twin-spouse pairs). Results: The spousal correlations were 0.51 in Finland and 0.45 in the Netherlands, to which phenotypic assortment contributed 0.35 and 0.30, and social homogamy 0.16 and 0.15, respectively. Conclusion: Both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment are important processes in spouse selection in Finland and the Netherlands. In both countries, phenotypic assortment contributes to a greater degree to the similarity of spouses than social homogamy.

Original language	English
Article number	1150697
Number of pages	9
Journal	Frontiers in Genetics
Volume	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1150697
Publication status	Published - 14 Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We want to express our gratitude to the Elise Mathilde Fund for providing financial support for the publication of this research.

Funding Information:
Data collection in the Finnish Twin Registry has been supported by National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA-12502, AA-00145, AA-09203, and AA15416) and the Academy of Finland (Grants 141054, 264146, 308248, 312073, and 352792). Data collection in the Netherlands Twin Register was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO) The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) grants 985-10-002; 904-61-193; 31160008; 31160008; ERC Starting grant 284167; BBRMI-CP2011-38; BBRMI-RP12; and KNAW PAH/6635. This manuscript has received financial support for the publication of this article from the Elise Mathilde (EM) Fund (202330286). No funders had any role in the study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2023 Gonggrijp, Silventoinen, Dolan, Boomsma, Kaprio and Willemsen.

Funding

We want to express our gratitude to the Elise Mathilde Fund for providing financial support for the publication of this research. Data collection in the Finnish Twin Registry has been supported by National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA-12502, AA-00145, AA-09203, and AA15416) and the Academy of Finland (Grants 141054, 264146, 308248, 312073, and 352792). Data collection in the Netherlands Twin Register was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO) The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) grants 985-10-002; 904-61-193; 31160008; 31160008; ERC Starting grant 284167; BBRMI-CP2011-38; BBRMI-RP12; and KNAW PAH/6635. This manuscript has received financial support for the publication of this article from the Elise Mathilde (EM) Fund (202330286). No funders had any role in the study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Funders	Funder number
Elise Mathilde Fund
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
ZonMw	31160008, BBRMI-RP12, 904-61-193, 985-10-002, BBRMI-CP2011-38
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism	AA-00145, AA-09203, AA-12502, AA15416
Seventh Framework Programme	284167
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen	PAH/6635, 202330286
Academy of Finland	141054, 264146, 352792, 312073, 308248

Keywords

assortative mating
education
phenotypic assortment
social homogamy
twins

Cohort Studies

Netherlands Twin Register (NTR)

Access to Document

10.3389/fgene.2023.1150697

Persistent URL (handle)

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{aa35af03e3af4e0c904ceb13f50dfa2a,

title = "The mechanism of assortative mating for educational attainment: a study of Finnish and Dutch twins and their spouses",

abstract = "Introduction: Assortative mating refers describes a phenomenon in which individuals with similar phenotypic traits are more likely to mate and reproduce with each other; i.e. assortative mating occurs when individuals choose partners based on their similarity or dissimilarity in certain traits.to patterns of non-random mating of spouses leading to phenotypic resemblance. There are various theories about the its underlying mechanisms, which have different genetic consequences. Methods: We analyzed examined two possible mechanisms underlying assortative mating – phenotypic assortment and social homogamy – for educational attainment in two countries utilizing data of mono- and dizygotic twins and their spouses (1,451 Finnish and 1,616 Dutch twin-spouse pairs). Results: The spousal correlations were 0.51 in Finland and 0.45 in the Netherlands, to which phenotypic assortment contributed 0.35 and 0.30, and social homogamy 0.16 and 0.15, respectively. Conclusion: Both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment are important processes in spouse selection in Finland and the Netherlands. In both countries, phenotypic assortment contributes to a greater degree to the similarity of spouses than social homogamy.",

keywords = "assortative mating, education, phenotypic assortment, social homogamy, twins",

author = "Gonggrijp, {Bodine M.A.} and Karri Silventoinen and Dolan, {Conor V.} and Boomsma, {Dorret I.} and Jaakko Kaprio and Gonneke Willemsen",

note = "Funding Information: We want to express our gratitude to the Elise Mathilde Fund for providing financial support for the publication of this research. Funding Information: Data collection in the Finnish Twin Registry has been supported by National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA-12502, AA-00145, AA-09203, and AA15416) and the Academy of Finland (Grants 141054, 264146, 308248, 312073, and 352792). Data collection in the Netherlands Twin Register was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO) The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) grants 985-10-002; 904-61-193; 31160008; 31160008; ERC Starting grant 284167; BBRMI-CP2011-38; BBRMI-RP12; and KNAW PAH/6635. This manuscript has received financial support for the publication of this article from the Elise Mathilde (EM) Fund (202330286). No funders had any role in the study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2023 Gonggrijp, Silventoinen, Dolan, Boomsma, Kaprio and Willemsen.",

year = "2023",

month = jun,

day = "14",

doi = "10.3389/fgene.2023.1150697",

language = "English",

volume = "14",

journal = "Frontiers in Genetics",

issn = "1664-8021",

publisher = "Frontiers Media S.A.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The mechanism of assortative mating for educational attainment

T2 - a study of Finnish and Dutch twins and their spouses

AU - Gonggrijp, Bodine M.A.

AU - Silventoinen, Karri

AU - Dolan, Conor V.

AU - Boomsma, Dorret I.

AU - Kaprio, Jaakko

AU - Willemsen, Gonneke

N1 - Funding Information: We want to express our gratitude to the Elise Mathilde Fund for providing financial support for the publication of this research. Funding Information: Data collection in the Finnish Twin Registry has been supported by National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grants AA-12502, AA-00145, AA-09203, and AA15416) and the Academy of Finland (Grants 141054, 264146, 308248, 312073, and 352792). Data collection in the Netherlands Twin Register was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO) The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) grants 985-10-002; 904-61-193; 31160008; 31160008; ERC Starting grant 284167; BBRMI-CP2011-38; BBRMI-RP12; and KNAW PAH/6635. This manuscript has received financial support for the publication of this article from the Elise Mathilde (EM) Fund (202330286). No funders had any role in the study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Gonggrijp, Silventoinen, Dolan, Boomsma, Kaprio and Willemsen.

PY - 2023/6/14

Y1 - 2023/6/14

N2 - Introduction: Assortative mating refers describes a phenomenon in which individuals with similar phenotypic traits are more likely to mate and reproduce with each other; i.e. assortative mating occurs when individuals choose partners based on their similarity or dissimilarity in certain traits.to patterns of non-random mating of spouses leading to phenotypic resemblance. There are various theories about the its underlying mechanisms, which have different genetic consequences. Methods: We analyzed examined two possible mechanisms underlying assortative mating – phenotypic assortment and social homogamy – for educational attainment in two countries utilizing data of mono- and dizygotic twins and their spouses (1,451 Finnish and 1,616 Dutch twin-spouse pairs). Results: The spousal correlations were 0.51 in Finland and 0.45 in the Netherlands, to which phenotypic assortment contributed 0.35 and 0.30, and social homogamy 0.16 and 0.15, respectively. Conclusion: Both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment are important processes in spouse selection in Finland and the Netherlands. In both countries, phenotypic assortment contributes to a greater degree to the similarity of spouses than social homogamy.

AB - Introduction: Assortative mating refers describes a phenomenon in which individuals with similar phenotypic traits are more likely to mate and reproduce with each other; i.e. assortative mating occurs when individuals choose partners based on their similarity or dissimilarity in certain traits.to patterns of non-random mating of spouses leading to phenotypic resemblance. There are various theories about the its underlying mechanisms, which have different genetic consequences. Methods: We analyzed examined two possible mechanisms underlying assortative mating – phenotypic assortment and social homogamy – for educational attainment in two countries utilizing data of mono- and dizygotic twins and their spouses (1,451 Finnish and 1,616 Dutch twin-spouse pairs). Results: The spousal correlations were 0.51 in Finland and 0.45 in the Netherlands, to which phenotypic assortment contributed 0.35 and 0.30, and social homogamy 0.16 and 0.15, respectively. Conclusion: Both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment are important processes in spouse selection in Finland and the Netherlands. In both countries, phenotypic assortment contributes to a greater degree to the similarity of spouses than social homogamy.

KW - assortative mating

KW - education

KW - phenotypic assortment

KW - social homogamy

KW - twins

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164255024&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85164255024&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fgene.2023.1150697

DO - 10.3389/fgene.2023.1150697

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85164255024

SN - 1664-8021

VL - 14

JO - Frontiers in Genetics

JF - Frontiers in Genetics

M1 - 1150697

ER -

The mechanism of assortative mating for educational attainment: a study of Finnish and Dutch twins and their spouses

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Cohort Studies

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this