Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: One surprising finding in the field of dyadic influence is the minimal influence that couple personality similarity has for life and relational well-being. Most research has focused on pairing of symmetric psychological characteristics on a broad, trait level (i.e., one person’s extraversion with their partner’s extraversion) across romantic partners. However, many more cross-trait combinations are possible, and facet-level traits may provide additional information that is traditionally lost. Among 1,366 middle-age and older couples, we examined similarity effects of personality facets on health, life, and relational well-being using difference scores, response surface analyses, and machine learning approaches. Across analytic and operational approaches, partner and similarity effects were relatively small in magnitude, although additional variance was explained for some outcomes (e.g., relationship satisfaction) than others (e.g., memory, chronic illnesses). Our findings constitute one of the more comprehensive examinations to date and suggest even the modest effects of personality similarity may be overstated.
Source: Innovation in Aging
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,615
OpenAlex ID: W4312103725