Romantic partners tend to be more similar in self-reported personality traits than would be expected by chance. This similarity can be due to the choice of a similar partner, partners becoming more similar to each other over time, or dissimilar couples breaking up. To examine whether these processes (choice, convergence, or breakup) explain personality trait similarities in couples, we followed a sample of 1,180 German couples (N = 2,360 individuals; age range = 17-82 years old) from right after moving in together (ranging from 0 to 4 years after) up to 16 years thereafter. Using bivariate latent growth curve models, we found that couples were already similar in openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness in the first years of moving in together. Although couples showed correlated change in conscientiousness, this did not increase similarity. Response surface analyses showed that separation risk was generally unrelated to dissimilarity. Furthermore, romantic partners did not become more dissimilar in the years before separation. Taken together, these results suggest that personality similarity in cohabiting couples is fully driven by choosing a similar partner. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research on personality similarity in romantic relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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近期同居夫妇的性格特质相似性：伴侣选择、趋同还是选择性分手？


浪漫伴侣在自我报告的性格特征上往往比偶然预期的更相似。这种相似性可能是由于选择了相似的伴侣，随着时间的推移，伴侣变得更加相似，或者不同的情侣分手。为了检查这些过程（选择、趋同或分手）是否解释了夫妻的人格特质相似性，我们跟踪了 1,180 对德国夫妇（N = 2,360 人;年龄范围 = 17-82 岁）的样本，从同居后（从 0 到 4 年不等）到之后的 16 年。使用二元潜在生长曲线模型，我们发现夫妻在同居的最初几年在开放性、责任心、外向性和宜人性方面已经相似。尽管夫妻在责任心方面表现出相关变化，但这并没有增加相似性。响应面分析表明，分离风险通常与相异性无关。此外，在分居前的几年里，浪漫的伴侣并没有变得更加不同。综上所述，这些结果表明，同居伴侣的性格相似性完全是由选择相似的伴侣驱动的。我们讨论了这些发现对浪漫关系中人格相似性的理论和研究的影响。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。