DNA may influence your partner selection
People with predisposition for educational achievement select more educated partners
People look for intelligence and educational attainment in their partners. PHOTO: FILE
LONDON:
Individuals tend to marry and have children with those with similar DNA, researchers have found.
Humans generally do not choose partners randomly but rather mate ‘assortatively.’ Among the highest ranking qualities people look for in a potential partner are intelligence and educational attainment, the study published in the journal Intelligence said, adding that the choice has a significance at DNA level.
“Our findings show strong evidence for presence of genetic assortative mating for education. The consequences on education and cognitive abilities are relevant for society, genetic make-up and the evolutionary development of subsequent generations,” said David Hugh-Jones, lecturer at University of East Anglia (UEA).
However, assortative mating could increase genetic and social inequality in future generations, since children of such couples are more unequal genetically than those of people who mate randomly, the researchers argued. “Assortative mating on inheritable traits that are indicative of socio-economic status, such as educational achievement, increases the genetic variance of characteristics in the population. This may increase social inequality with respect to education or income,” Hugh-Jones added.
“When growing social inequality is, partly, driven by a growing biological inequality, they may be harder to overcome and the effects of assortative mating may accumulate with each generation,” Hugh-Jones said.
The team examined 1,600 married or cohabiting couples in Britain. They used polygenic scores that predict educational attainment to see if they predicted the partner’s own educational attainment and polygenic score. The results showed the individuals with a stronger genetic predisposition for higher educational achievement have more educated partner.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2016.
Individuals tend to marry and have children with those with similar DNA, researchers have found.
Humans generally do not choose partners randomly but rather mate ‘assortatively.’ Among the highest ranking qualities people look for in a potential partner are intelligence and educational attainment, the study published in the journal Intelligence said, adding that the choice has a significance at DNA level.
“Our findings show strong evidence for presence of genetic assortative mating for education. The consequences on education and cognitive abilities are relevant for society, genetic make-up and the evolutionary development of subsequent generations,” said David Hugh-Jones, lecturer at University of East Anglia (UEA).
However, assortative mating could increase genetic and social inequality in future generations, since children of such couples are more unequal genetically than those of people who mate randomly, the researchers argued. “Assortative mating on inheritable traits that are indicative of socio-economic status, such as educational achievement, increases the genetic variance of characteristics in the population. This may increase social inequality with respect to education or income,” Hugh-Jones added.
“When growing social inequality is, partly, driven by a growing biological inequality, they may be harder to overcome and the effects of assortative mating may accumulate with each generation,” Hugh-Jones said.
The team examined 1,600 married or cohabiting couples in Britain. They used polygenic scores that predict educational attainment to see if they predicted the partner’s own educational attainment and polygenic score. The results showed the individuals with a stronger genetic predisposition for higher educational achievement have more educated partner.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2016.