title: Assortative mating in a Spanish population: effects of social factors and cohabitation time.
abstract: Assortative mating for 22 anthropometric and body composition characteristics and social indicators was studied in a Spanish sample of 114 married couples. Significant spousal similarity was found for occupation, educational level and number of siblings. Sex-age adjusted spouse correlations were significant for stature, ileospinal height, total arm length, and biacromial breadth. Spouse correlations were not altered after allowance for socioeconomic effects. When couples were grouped according to marriage duration, differences in mate correlations for fatness were detected, suggesting a cohabitational effect on spouse resemblance.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Andrés
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Mesa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013030:Spain