Abstract
Assortative mating in Intelligence, Psychoticism, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. Assortative mating is the mating of pairs more similar for some trait (physical or psychological) than would be expected from random mating. Intelligence and personality are among the most studied human traits in this respect. The presence of assortative mating in any given human population has broad sociological and genetic implications. There is no empirical evidence about the presence or the absence of assortative mating in Spain. The present study assesses intelligence, psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism in 342 adult pairs from Cataluña and Madrid. The age range is 34_77 yr. There is also a broad range of educational level, from primary studies to university. The results indicate the presence of a strong assortative mating in intelligence, but not in the personality traits. The correlation in intelligence is not explained by the correlation in educational level. Furthermore, a slight reduction in the assortative mating in intelligence is observed for the youngest pairs. Some possible sociological and genetic implications of the latter finding are discussed.
