Although it is often said that opposites attract, different studies maintain that most of us tend to mate with people with whom we maintain a certain affinity . It is so, at least, when it comes to a lasting relationship. It may be a physical resemblance – a similar height or body mass -, intellectual or of character. Now, a large study carried out among 24,000 marriages indicates that this does not happen by chance, but rather that it is a choice that is imposed, so to speak, by our DNA .
A team of researchers from different institutions coordinated by Matthew R. Robinson, from the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane (Australia), has found that there is a marked statistical correlation between the genetic markers that determine the height of an individual and that of his better half , for example. This phenomenon, they indicate, also occurs, although to a lesser extent, if what is analyzed is the body mass index.
In an article published in the journal Nature Human Behavior , Robinson and his collaborators point out that humans tend to choose couples with genetics similar to ours; This occurs especially in subjects in whom selective mating is more evident , that is, the tendency to associate with people who resemble them in some way. This strategy means that the similarities of the parents with their offspring and between the siblings themselves are greater and, as has been observed in nature, can favor the survival of the offspring.
Scientists not only appreciated this link in genetic markers related to physical traits, but also in those that are often taken into account when examining education, life interests and behavior . In the opinion of Robinson and his team, this suggests that the aforementioned selective pairing considerably increases the chances that a certain trait will pass from parents to children, from the propensity to be taller or to be interested in a specific type of studies to the tendency to develop certain mental disorders, such as schizophrenia.
